Rage of the Hive
by Minaethiel
Summary: Oryx has been defeated at the hands of Fireteam Spearhead, the Tower's finest Guardians. Guardian Cassidy Drake isn't one of them, but she nevertheless finds herself pulled into a new fight against the Hive that forces her to become a legend she never thought she'd be.
1. Chapter 1: The Calling

**_Hello readers of mine both new and old :) this is my new fic, Rage of the Hive. While I'm busy at work writing the next installment of my RvB fic, I hope this will tide people over, as I found a burst of inspiration after actually giving The Taken King a chance. Without further ado, here is the first chapter!_**

 _Chapter One: The Calling_

* * *

 _For all Guardians are, they are not invincible. They are still just ordinary men and women with extraordinary abilities and determination. For all Guardians are… they are still mortal. – Anonymous_

* * *

 _The light._

 _Oh how she hated the light. The way it burned to ash. The way it electrocuted flesh. The way it sucked the life out of her children. Every cry brought her a wrack of grief so strong that she could almost feel their pain as they died. Until finally, after her master, Oryx, fell, and she wailed aloud after so much loss. Crota, her son, had_ _been the beginning. Oryx, the final straw._

 _The dawn broke over the moon's shadow, and the Hive rose as one in the deepest depths of the crags, and cried out in one voice: ENOUGH!_

* * *

"Ghost, set a course for the Tower. We've got bounties to turn in."

I could hear the whirring of my companion as he contemplated.

"Can't we just turn them in from here? Honor system and all?"

A smile turned up my lips.

"Maybe, but I'm an old-fashioned kind of girl. Besides, Ikora told me the Warlocks compiled a book and the reports from the fireteam that took down Oryx. I want to read about how they did it, and who knows? The research the two Warlocks on the team got may give us a new edge over the Hive."

The fireteam that defeated Oryx were practically celebrities. The Tower had been alive with widespread celebration and revelry when the news had come in, and somehow the party had only escalated when the six Guardians returned. Used to the attention after they had taken down Crota, the six heroes took it all with good grace, and even indulged a little themselves before retiring. I envied them. I wanted to make as much of a difference as they had, and give hope to a City that had been devoid of it for so long like they did. But what was I but one of the few bookworm Hunters, more a Warlock than a City scout.

Sure, Cayde was quick to send me out when he needed work done, but Ikora was also quick to call on me for favors. My latest run to Venus for her had been to follow in the footsteps of half of the Oryx fireteam (embarrassingly, I found myself almost swooning at the sight of Fallen corpses they no doubt killed), and see if the Ishtar Archives held any more valuable information besides the intelligence on the Vault of Glass. It hadn't been too informative, but there had been an interesting set of correspondences between the Ishtar Collective and the research teams on the Moon. Before Venus fell, it seemed like the Hive were just beginning to cause problems for the Moon. While Venus was embroiled in a fierce and ultimately losing battle with the Vex, the Moon was reporting to the Collective on the Hive. The correspondence that caught my eye made reference to a, "parasitic witch that seems to drain, and benefit, from technology that utilized the power of the Traveler."

It didn't seem possible, and the witch had to be some precursor to Crota. Everybody in the Tower knew that the Moon had fallen to Crota, Oryx's son, and the bane of the Light. While the Hive may have overrun the Moon at first, when the Guardians came about, it became a more even fight. The first Guardians probably crushed this Wizard. _Perhaps that's why Crota came to the Moon. With this Hive general – or whatever it was – dead, the forces there needed reinforcements. And that brought about the ultimate loss of the Moon._ The thought of piecing together an event so important from our history made me giddy. Maybe I wasn't the fastest, the strongest, or the wisest Guardian, but I liked to think of myself as dedicated at least, and perhaps a bit smart.

My musings had kept me silent, but my Ghost didn't say anything to break the silence. He knew my quirks and habits, and I appreciated that he didn't seem to mind when I drifted off. He was probably my only close friend. I hated working in fireteams. Everyone was so laser focused on the mission normally that they never stopped to investigate anything that could be important off of the beaten path. Most of them annoyed me, and I, in turn, annoyed them. The Bookworm's Pet was what they liked to call me. It would be a humorous if they didn't mean it so insultingly. If Ikora heard anything, she didn't seem to mind, and even encouraged my attendance at the Warlock's archives, commenting often how she wished other Hunters and Titans were the same way.

"We're approaching the Tower. Amanda says your parking place is open."

Shaking away the less encouraging thoughts, I steered towards the hangar, delighted to be home again. With luck, one of the Oryx fireteam would be in the archives too! The thought sent a thrill of delight through my veins, but also made me nervous. What would I say? 'Hey, congratulations for killing the biggest threat to the City since Crota himself?' Maybe. That would seem casual enough while talking to a tower hero probably.

Though if I was being honest with myself, I wanted to see Sasha. Ace Gunslinger, she was Cayde's favorite prodigy, and rumor had it she was being groomed for the Vanguard mentor position when Cayde finally decided to step down and get out of the Tower again. Sasha was, in a couple words, the ideal Hunter. Everything I wasn't, and everything I wanted to be. But seeing her was a very low chance. She'd been heard before saying that she preferred learning on her feet and in the field by experience rather than read.

"Hey, Ghost," I began, finally breaking out of my silent reverie, "does Cayde have anything he wants me to do today?"

My ghost was silent for a couple minutes, no doubt checking for any additional orders. After a moment, he hummed in thought as he appeared over my shoulder.

"Strange Hive activity on Earth. According to some unconfirmed reports, the Hive are actually abandoning their fights with the Fallen."

That _was_ weird. Then again, it sounded like a positive sign. Perhaps the deaths of Crota and Oryx were routing the bestial creatures. It was a hope that sprouted quickly, followed by a rush of adrenaline and happiness. If we could win the war against the Fallen… we could take our moon back. We could push the Fallen out, and then get Earth back. The possibilities weren't even glimmers on the radar before three of Fireteam Spearhead (so unoriginal. Of course it had been Zavala's idea to keep their fireteam name to the point and obvious) had defeated the Black Heart. Then their whole team had snowballed into legend by delivering the astounding victories against the Hive into the laps of the Vanguard.

"Does the Vanguard have any ideas as to why the Hive are pulling back?"

"They followed your line of thinking. With both of their gods gone, they think it's a sign of the Hive becoming broken and scattered. Cayde suggested that Hunters be deployed across Earth to various locations where the Hive have been spotted and see if these reports are true, and to exactly what extent the Hive have taken their withdrawal. He also wants to keep an eye out for resurgent Fallen activity, but that's a secondary objective. They're understandably jumpy about the Hive since Oryx came around."

I nodded to myself, stopping at the bounty board to transmit my successes to the board's attendant. Ghost garnered my earned rewards and we turned to the archives to deliver what we had found.

"Sounds easy. We can do that. It's funny, they're not as concerned about the Fallen anymore. Though with a few of the surrounding Kells in our backyard dead, I can't say I'm surprised."

Skolas had been locked away in the Prison of Elders by Mara Sov, the Awoken queen of the Reef. Her death had been hard on the Awoken last I heard, though I hadn't actually been to the Reef myself. I hadn't been experienced enough at the time to take part in the hunting of the House of Wolves. However their presence had made Earth more dangerous for a time. Eventually, however, Skolas inadvertently brought about the destruction of not only his own house, but that of the Kings and Winter houses as well.

Still, a part of me was always more focused on the Fallen. They were backed into a corner in the Cosmodrome, sure, but they still held strong footholds in other places on the planet. It wasn't going to be easy to root them all out. The Vanguard, however, had outlined our priorities: check on the Hive and Fallen. Obviously see if either were going to be an immediate threat to the safety of the City. Whatever the results, I was sure we'd be ready for them.

For the moment though, _my_ priority was Ikora.

Walking into the Archives made me sigh in contentment. Books were everywhere. Bound in leather, or kept in more sophisticated datapads. Whatever information the Tower had was kept here and maintained by the Warlocks to be studied or organized. They did excellent work, and they were always courteous when asked about a subject or how to find something. Best of all, they didn't judge whenever I came in. I was a fairly regular visitor, which was apparent as one of the bookkeepers gave me a nod and a small smile before returning to his work. Ikora soon appeared, a datapad in her hand.

"Cassidy, welcome back. Did you find anything interesting?"

Nodding, I had Ghost materialize our findings into my hand.

"I think you'll find these messages to be fascinating, Ikora. Apparently there was a bigger threat to the moon's civilizations than Crota at first. I think the early Guardians managed to kill whatever the 'witch' was that the researcher on the moon was referring to."

Now it was Ikora's turn to nod as she took the pad from my hand.

"An interesting theory. We'll have to see what the records turn up to verify your findings. And as promised, here's the after action reports of Fireteam Spearhead during their fight with Oryx, as well as all the information we have regarding him and his Taken. Thank you, Guardian Drake."

Taking the offered items, I smiled brightly. Tonight I'd be occupied for hours.

"It's never a problem to help out, Ikora. You know I love this kind of assignment."

"That you do," she agreed, approval in her voice. "Enjoy your evening."

That was her goodbye as she took her leave, moving down the hallway to meet another Warlock with two books in her hands. I turned to the exit and made my way out, unsurprised to see that darkness was finally falling. The sunset sent multi-colored rays of light across the City, lighting it and the Traveler up in a dazzling display. With my helmet off, I could smell the crisp air of late fall, though it was slightly tainted by the tang of whatever industry we'd managed to scrape together. The spectacular view was worth braving the air quality, however. _This_ , I reminded myself, _is what we're fighting for. To improve the lives of everyone we protect. To make sure the nightmares we see aren't seen by the children born in the future. To_ survive.

"We'll get started on what Cayde wants tomorrow," I told Ghost, biting my lip in thought, "and after that we'll grab more bounties and just wander the system. Sound good?"

"I go where you go," Ghost promised, clearly approving of the plan. "Do you know where we're going?"

"Not yet," I replied with a frown. "Did Cayde tell you which sector we're going to?"

Ghost nodded once and projected a map that lit up the growing shadows around us. The mail kiosk glowed dimly with it, and I studied it with hard scrutiny. A shiver ran through me. This was no easy assignment. The mountains, once proud and snow-capped, were barren, and had holes drilled into them where Hive seeders had dug into them. The small, sleepy town Cayde assigned to me used to be a stronghold in Noth America's Midwest, known as Relic Park. It had another name before that, but while the rest of the world incorporated larger buildings and better architecture thanks to the Traveler's knowledge, this town elected to keep its old buildings. They did adopt methods to help alleviate the floods, blizzards, and rock slides in the area, but they used their old look as a tourist attraction in and of itself. The old red-roofed hotel that made the town famous was a shell of its former glory, but it still stood proudly, albeit abandoned.

When the Fallen and Hive moved in, the entirety of the town and the roads leading to it became extremely dangerous. Ships were too noisy to directly insert into the town, so it was up to infiltrating by Sparrow from the bottom of the mountain. That in and of itself was going to be a challenge.

"Ok, we'll come up with a plan of how to pull this off tomorrow. Let's get some shuteye."

* * *

Things… were not going according to plan.

"Ghost! Get me an alternate route so we can shake these pikes!"

It hadn't taken long for the pair of us to run into trouble on the road to the park. While the disappearance of the Hive was pressing, I honestly thought they'd overlooked just how jumpy the Fallen would get too. It was a sad day when I, Guardian Cassidy Drake, could see something the Vanguard couldn't. And that was how we found ourselves in the predicament of being chased by a squad of Fallen pikes. Their shots ripped apart foliage and old, weather-beaten cars. Metal screeched and I was glad my helmet could filter out the stink of burned metal and greenery as my Sparrow sailed through the trees and roads alternatively.

"There! The road up the canyon!"

Eyeing it as I turned, I hissed slightly, highly aware of the danger ahead.

"It's choked with cars, it's got turns that even a professional Sparrow racer wouldn't try-"

"And it also won't let the pikes follow us as quickly if you ride on top of those cars," Ghost finished, setting a waypoint. "I can mark each turn for you, Cassidy, so you'll have time to prepare. Go!"

I didn't hesitate and gunned my Sparrow as fast as it would go. The SR-1 Swiftriver was my pride and joy, and though it wasn't the fastest Sparrow in production, it had gotten me away from enough hairy situations for me to trust it. The cold rock of the cliff sides sped by me as I increased my speed, and then the bumping started. Each new leap over a car jarred me, and as experienced of a pilot as I was, it took every bit of skill I had to keep control of the vehicle and to not fly down into the raging river on my left. The turns were sharp and dangerous, and at one point my Sparrow fishtailed over a rusted guard rail before I got my forward momentum back.

The pikes, while tenacious, eventually fell behind. Their bulk made them durable, but not adaptable, and they sure didn't handle well. I rounded one last corner, and barely had the time to yell out in surprise as my Sparrow collided with a large rock. I felt heat and pain, and then I blacked out.

* * *

"Guardian? Come on, eyes up. We need to get moving before more Fallen arrive."

Blinking sluggish eyes open, I almost let out a groan from the phantom aches of the crash. Ghost had no doubt healed whatever terrible injuries I had had (if I hadn't just outright died), but there was always that leftover feeling in the nerves. Even the Light could only do so much. However, as I finally blinked into focus the helmet above me, I bolted upright in absolute shock. In all of her heroic glory was none other than Cayde's star pupil, Guardian Sasha Carrington. She clearly read my sudden recovery as a reaction to her presence, and a small chuckle escaped her.

"You can ask me whatever you need to once we get into the town. My partner has a position locked down in the outskirts. Let's get to him, and then I can bring you up to speed on the situation. Sound good?"

I only nodded, afraid of saying something stupid. I thought she was smiling under that helmet of hers as she stood and offered her hand.

"Good, let's be off then. We'll go on foot. It's only about a ten-minute jog, and we won't draw any attention."

Standing up, I grabbed my scout rifle off of my back. It had taken a lot of saving and a lot of practice in the Iron Banner, but I'd managed to buy a Gheleon's Demise from them. The gun was a thing of beauty. It had an improved reloading system so I wouldn't have to spend as much time loading in a new magazine. The rounds were armor piercing, and best of all, a special compound in the bullets caused my enemies to light up in brilliant explosions when they made contact with the brain matter of my whatever I was shooting at. I wasn't quite sure how it worked on Vex, but I wasn't about to question the gun. It had gotten me through some hairy situations too.

"Thanks for the help, but uh, how did you find me?"

"Your Ghost sent out a distress to any Guardians in the immediate area. Luckily, Nathan and I weren't that far away. You were pretty banged up when I got here, but your Ghost fixed you up soon enough. You've been out for about an hour."

 _A lot could have happened in an hour. Thank the Traveler that part of Fireteam Spearhead of all Guardians were close by. And thank my lucky stars for Ghost._

"Thank you, Guardian Carrington, and thank you too, Ghost. I'd be dead or worse without you."

My Ghost materialized into view, amusement lining his voice.

"You would have died plenty of times before this if not for me. But you're welcome. Just doing my job."

Sasha snorted as she gathered up her own gun. With a start, I immediately recognized the Hawkmoon. It was designed for the best Gunslingers the tower had to offer. Deadly and precise, it had the ability to cause even more devastating wounds with three bullets in the entirety of the magazine. Only the elite Hunters had one. In very rare cases they were given to Titans and Warlocks, honorary Hunters in their own right. Their names usually went down in history.

"None of this 'Guardian Carrington' crap. I get that enough from the politicians and the Vanguard. My name is just Sasha to everyone else. Nice to meet you…?"

"Cassidy!" I blurted out quickly, offering my hand and taking a deep breath to calm my nerves. "My name is Cassidy Drake. It's nice to meet you too, Sasha."

With introductions out of the way, we began our trek. Both of our Ghosts were silent, no doubt keeping an eye on our surroundings just as Sasha and I were. But I couldn't help sneaking curious looks her way. Perhaps watching her would teach me a thing or two. This was, after all, the Guardian who had destroyed the heart of the Black Garden when she was actually fairly young as far as experience went. The most staggering thing was that she had done it alone. Fireteam Spearhead hadn't been formed until the Hive started making trouble. Regardless of all that, she made a striking figure on her own. Her cloak showed wear and tear, but the symbol of the Wolf stood out proudly in golden thread. Her armor was pure white, and she had clearly been busy using the Hive she killed to adorn it with all kinds of trophies. _Is that a… Thrall skull on her belt? She must have a special kind of hate for them._

I had heard that Sasha was very candid and fun-loving no matter what she did, which was a curse and a blessing. More than once I'd hear that it led her to take anything important less seriously than it deserved. But with her track record of success, maybe she deserved to have that young spirit about her. Still, I had to wonder how she made such a good leader if she didn't take anything all that seriously. Maybe that was something else I'd learn from watching her.

"Nate? Coming up to your position now. Make sure you don't get us with your Blink Strike, ok?"

Surprise laced through me as I heard his reply. Sasha must have patched me into her team's comms.

"That was _one_ time, Sasha! Aren't you ever going to forgive me?"

I chuckled under my breath at the pout in his voice. Nathan was a notorious flirt, especially with Sasha. Rumor also said they were secret lovers, though I myself always doubted it. Sasha seemed too focused on her job as a Guardian to pay much mind to any romantic ties. Not that it mattered, as Nathan more than made up for her lack of physical interest.

"Maybe after I beat your ass in the Crucible enough to drive home the point to watch your radar," she sniped back teasingly.

"So cruel," was his reply, before taking note of her previous statement. "So who was our stray Guardian?"

Sasha cast a glance over to me, and I replied before she could, trying to appear as the bold Guardian they probably all expected me to be.

"Guardian Cassidy Drake, at your service," I introduced, trying to portray as much confidence as I could. After all these guys were _legends_. I'd have to work extra hard to keep up with them. Weak links had not gotten them through all of the dangers they had faced together. But I also wasn't dumb enough to think that I was anything more to them than some random Guardian tagging along. They had their team. After this mission we'd part ways and maybe cross paths again if I happened to luck out. The least I could do was hope the Traveler would make sure nothing else went wrong while I was with them.

 _You aren't helpless,_ Ghost promptly reminded me. _You are a Nightstalker. The Void answers to your call. Time to stop acting like the weak link you don't want to be and act like the skilled Guardian I've been working with for years. We have work to do._

Taking a steadying breath, I nodded. I had been a Guardian for almost four years now. This was just a routine scouting mission, with extraordinary people. I was also extraordinary in my own right. One of the Tower's few Nightstalkers. Nathan was unaware of my change of resolve as a grin laced his return communication.

"Nice to meet you, Gorgeous. Exactly what service are you-"

"Anyway," Sasha suddenly cut in, an inevitable scolding hinted at in her tone, "let's meet up and continue with the mission. Underneath the old hotel was where the Hive would congregate. They buried tunnels that went for miles underneath the mountains. Suddenly they disappeared from the stronghold, and from what we've gathered so far, the Fallen have moved in. Cassidy, our mission is a little bit different from yours. We're going to infiltrate that hotel and see what's waiting for us in the tunnels. You don't have to come along. I know Cayde assigned the majority of the Hunters to do perimeter scouting, and if going in deeper doesn't appeal to you, we'll part ways once we meet up with Nate."

I was taken aback at the sympathy she presented. Almost like she expected me to back out at the drop of a hat. And maybe it would have been smart to let the experts take on the most hazardous mission, but the Light burned within me in a desire to prove myself to this legend.

"Count me in. Something with that many unknowns? Sounds like an extra pair of hands wouldn't be so bad. At least, if you don't mind having me along."

"The more the merrier!" Nate broke in, the grin clear in his voice. "I got eyes on both of you. Let's get this show on the road."

* * *

There was no time to ask Sasha questions like she promised me. She inquired if there was anything pressing I needed to know, but a sense of purpose had settled over me, just as it normally did with all of my jobs. The longer we waited, the more time the Fallen had to fortify their position and keep us out. Nate, I quickly learned, was just a general flirt, and not just with Sasha. I could almost feel Ghost bristling at the attention he gave to me. Nothing over the top, but there were a lot of glances, and once there was a brushing over my hand that could have been explained as innocent, had he not chuckled at my startled reaction. Sasha always took it with grace, calling him out at each flirty remark and basically shutting him down hard enough to where he, too, focused up on the mission.

Despite the distractions around him, at our first encounter with a group of Fallen, it was obvious just how skilled he really was. While Sasha and I distracted them out front, assault rifle and scout rifle cracking away and keeping our enemies pinned, Nate snuck around in the Bladedancer's signature active camouflage. When he got close enough, he was like a deadly ballet dancer. Never in one place for more than half a heartbeat, his knife flashing in the falling sun and black blood staining it to a darker gray. Were it not for the helmets dampening the smells outside, I had no doubt the putrid scent of the Fallen would drive me away just as easily as the wildlife. Nate commented as much when the howls of the Fallen had finished echoing. According to him, Fallen blood was the worst to get off, but I had had to openly disagree. The Hive had a sickening green ooze to it. Just looking at it was enough to make me feel ill. This led to a hushed debate about what made either category of creature worse, yet we managed to agree that killing Vex was the cleanest of all. Cabal never even factored into the discussion, save to mention just how ugly they were without the masks.

Sasha had scoffed teasingly at us both, pointing out how one didn't need to clean their knife if their Ghost constantly generated them for you, to which Nate had responded how impersonal it was to constantly rid yourself of knives. His Arc Blade, he had admonished, had been with him through so much that cleaning it was the least he could do. Shaking my head at how their banter spun forward, I had to hold out a hand to stop them as we came up the road to enter the town. There, on the right, was the old hotel. Its proud red roof was marked with holes - bullet or just rot, I couldn't tell - and from the amount of Fallen pikes around the area, it was also a fortified position for the enemy.

"Probably Vandals with Wire Rifles on the roof," I murmured as we moved to the cover of the trees, grabbing my Gheleon's and looking through the scope. "Dregs and Vandals on the ground, Shock Pistols and Shock Rifles, more than likely. Eyes on... looks like two captains. Oh, shock swords on one, and a shrapnel launcher for the other. They're not pulling any punches. House emblem looks like the House of Shadows."

The Shadows earned their name from their heavy focus on the use of stealth Vandals. They were one of the more dangerous houses to encounter if you were unprepared. Sasha and Nate didn't seem too phased outside of mild surprise.

"The Shadows haven't been this far south in years. It was a massive undertaking to stamp out all of the cells here. I thought we were done with them," Nate growled grimly. "There was even an operation in planning to take down their Kell up in the north, above where the old country borders used to be. It doesn't look good for the mission if the Shadows are strong enough to crawl back here again."

It was surprising to hear the hate in Nate's voice. He seemed like a carefree spirit just like Sasha. Heck, it seemed like a Hunter thing to be pretty easygoing. But, looking at how focused his gaze was at the hotel, I realized that everybody had something that took away a person's light. It was up to them to just keep moving forward when that piece of light was gone.

"We'll need to watch each other's backs then," Sasha said, taking a look through the sniper she had brought along. "I don't like how open it is from here to the entrance. We'll be sitting ducks."

"Nightfall," I suggested, taking tock of the sun's position in the sky, "We'll have an easier time of staying hidden if we wait till darkness falls."

Sasha nodded, taking her eyes from the scope.

"Nightfall," she agreed. "And when it comes, we'll slip inside and get to the mission."

I shivered slightly. Getting past the Fallen was just phase one.

Phase two... well, that was where it would get complicated.


	2. Chapter 2: The Discovery

_Chapter Two: The Discovery_

* * *

 _And so it has been written that Guardians drained of Light are two things: dead, or part of the Darkness themselves. Rarely do they fully live their lives out in the Light. -Anonymous_

* * *

Until the creeping shadows of nightfall approached, Sasha, Nate, and I scouted the hotel's perimeter. Sure enough, the Vandals on the roof had Wire Rifles after a closer look, and the security outside was a fairly large force compared to what was inside. Almost like they were more distracted with keeping things in than out. This wasn't entirely strange. If the Hive had retreated back underground, then the Vanguard would make sure they didn't come out again. I was surprised that they hadn't actually buried the Hive before we'd gotten there. That, Nate noted, was what was strange. That meant that the Fallen probably had business with the hotel or with the Hive down below. Neither scenario boded well for us.

"So, what's your story?"

Nate's inquiry drew me from my thoughts, and I looked over to him in mild surprise. It seemed like a pointless thing to ask while we were on mission. _But then, this is Fireteam Spearhead. They have a reason for everything._ With that in mind, I tilted my head slightly as we made our way back to the forest on the rear of the hotel.

"What do you want to know exactly?"

Nate shrugged, the motion sending a ripple through the cape he wore. On closer inspection, I could tell it was the same cape Sasha wore, the Strength of the Pack. Hunters were never really alone, after all. My own cape was the old frayed cloak of a lead scout. Short and torn, it was a plain brown color that helped to keep me hidden alongside the coal black armor coloring I donned. Nathan, unlike Sasha, had opted to spring for a red and white armor coloring. I wondered what environment he hoped to hide himself in.

"Everything? You've been a Guardian for just as long as I have, right? You must have some stories to tell."

Stories? Sure, but nothing as legendary as his. My most dangerous mission had ended with a wrecked ship, several days in recovery, and one very pissed off Holliday. I wasn't a grand specimen of what a Guardian looked like. Why he was curious was a mystery. But perhaps he just wanted to know what I brought to the team we had.

"Well, when I was revived, I found that I connected to the Void better than I did to the Arc and Solar disciplines. I trained as a Nightstalker, and Cayde mainly uses me as a scout. I don't really see as much action as you guys do. Ikora sends me out too to gather information for the library too-"

Nate stopped me with the motion of snapping his fingers.

"So _you're_ the Bookworm Hunter that Jessie always complains about. Each time he asks Ikora if anything needs done, she always says, 'not today, Guardian Drake took care of what I needed.' I must say, it's an achievement to out Warlock a Warlock. And it's no hardship to see Jessie peeved. Know-it-all, book-thumping-"

"Teammate," was Sasha's interruption, a hint of a smile in her voice. "And for all you two argue, you saved each others' lives in the Pit of the Moon."

This had Nate fall into silence, so Sasha picked up the conversation.

"A Nightstalker huh? I'm surprised Cayde doesn't monopolize more of your time. How much of a grasp do you have on the Void?"

A faint smile crossed my face under my helmet, and if Ghost had a physical body, I knew he'd be puffed up in pride.

"I've mastered it. Ask me to do something with my bow and I can probably do it. As long as it's within reason of course. I have a Voidwall grenade that can roast anything that goes through it, and I also have nanites in my smoke bomb that will give us active camouflage for a few seconds."

Very few Hunters became Nightstalkers. Those that were almost always mastered the Void due to the rigorous training Cayde made them go through to be able to survive on their own. I hadn't had a partner for over a year, preferring to just keep company with myself and Ghost. Spearhead was the first group of Guardians I'd agreed to work with for a very long time. Part of the reason I hated working with others, besides the attitudes some Guardians seemed to have, was I didn't like being responsible for any life other than my own. And maybe that was selfish, but it was too much pressure to deal with. Too many variables, too much dependency on everything going right, too much potential for everything to just go wrong. Shaking away the thoughts, I pondered what else to add.

"You make it sound like a resume," Sasha teased as we came to where our rally point was. "No worries, you're already hired for the position on our team for today. Well, you already know that Nate is a Bladedancer, and I'm a Gunslinger. With that Shadowshot of yours it's going to make taking down the bigger guys even easier."

Nate nodded, ending his uncharacteristic silence.

"We haven't actually gotten to work with a Nightstalker before. We're glad to have your skillset." He paused for a moment before adding, "and the improvement to the view around here too."

Flushing slightly I squatted next to a tree stump, keen to brush the flirting off and get down to business.

"So what's our plan for getting in?"

* * *

What we came up with was simple, but hopefully effective. Since Nate had the active camouflage, Sasha was going to lend him her sniper. From the woods, he'd pick off enough of the Fallen on the roof to draw attention, and hopefully encourage the majority of the forces posted outside to hunt him down. Then Nate, using his camo, would evade the Fallen and regroup with Sasha and me and sneak into the hotel while the Fallen were distracted. It depended wholly on speed and correctly judging the tactics the Fallen would employ. Of course we hadn't decided to send Nate after the Vandals on the roof for no reason. Without overwatch, our job would be made marginally easier.

Lying prone within the trees, I kept one eye on my motion tracker to try and keep the anticipation from getting to me. Any number of things could go wrong, and the stress of it was going to get to me if I continued to think of all the worst case scenarios.

 _Calm down, Cassidy,_ my Ghost implored. _These two are both among the top Hunters the Vanguard can deploy. Everything will be fine. You know it will be. You're just stuck on your own experiences._ I blinked and took a long exhale. He was right. Past failures had no bearing now. Not with the experienced team we had at the moment. Besides, these guys had survived both Crota and Oryx, in addition to Skolas. They could take on anything these Fallen Shadows could throw at us, and so could I. If a problem was truly too large for Sasha Carrington to handle, we were all probably in trouble. I felt my heart slow down and settle in a more calm rhythm even as the first audible _crack_ of Nate's sniper echoed through the darkness. One Vandal toppled over, headless, which drew the others into an alert howling. Judging from the sudden increase in noise and activity, it was safe to say Nate had their attention.

Another Vandal dropped on the roof, leaving two more, which quickly fell to one as a third shot rang out. By now the last one had a general location of the Bladedancer, and two teams went out. Both had Vandals with Shock Rifles and Dregs with their pistols, but the Captain with the shrapnel launcher also accompanied them, leaving the one with the two swords to stay back and guard the entrance. The lone Vandal on the roof fired once, sending a line of Arc through the shadows that briefly lit up the drive leading to the hotel, but it was not to happen again as Nate's retaliatory shot dropped the last rooftop assailant. At this point in the plan, Nate was to disengage and make his way to us, and thankfully, that seemed to be going right.

"Did you see that shooting, ladies? Just one of the many talents I possess."

Sasha snorted in amusement and looked at me, shaking her head in mock exasperation.

"Yes, and I'm sure I'll have a chance to show you who the real markswoman is later," she promised smugly.

Again I found myself struck by how casual she was. Even in a setting as dangerous as this - with a mission no doubt _more_ dangerous - she was joking around with a teammate like she had no cares in the world. It was worrying, but luckily she swapped the topic to business almost immediately.

"Are you getting clear, Nate? Looks like you stirred up more of a party than we anticipated."

"Have no fear my dear, your Bladedancer is well versed in escapes like this." He fell silent for a bit. From the sound of bushes rustling, it was clear a patrol was passing by. After a couple moments of waiting, he began talking again. "I'll be there in a couple of minutes. Nathan, out."

Well, at least the plan was going off without a hitch. At least so far. With the Darkness, it was always best to celebrate after the mission was completed. You just never knew what could go wrong or when. Even at the eleventh hour things could go stunningly FUBAR without so much as a warning. So I waited in tense silence as time ticked away for Nate to show. But any worry proved to be unfounded as a mere minute later, the other Hunter appeared, no doubt wearing a devil-may-care grin. Without a word we surged towards the hotel. The back of it had a small patio leading to what had either been a restaurant or a waiting room. The glass windows had long since been destroyed. The lack of remains meant that it had to have been done years - if not centuries - ago. The outside of the hotel had looked fairly good for its age, but inside proved to be less welcoming. Foliage had crept inside and was climbing the decaying walls. There were holes in the floor and the walls, the wooden structure clearly rotting thanks to the lack of care. The air outside had to have smelled earthy and grim, amplified by the 'modifications' the Hive had tried to make before the Fallen had moved in.

Sharp architecture jutted from the walls more frequently as we moved to where the entrance to the basement was. The Hive growth permeated the building, casting an eerie glow on everything. The only upside was that we didn't need our Ghosts to light the way, and that our helmets kept the decomposing stink of the hive from entering our air. The noise of the Fallen on floors above us was a symphony of alertness. We slipped into the basement, guns up and ready. Sasha was on point with her Hawkmoon out and ready. Nate had chosen to take up the position on our six, with his weapon of choice being the Invective. Ikora had mentioned giving away her weapon to Spearhead, but she hadn't mentioned who. I had assumed on impulse that it had been Jesse or Zack - Spearhead's Warlocks - that she had given it to. That Nate had managed to earn not only her respect, but a prized possession as well, made me feel marginally less weird about doing so much for the Warlock Vanguard.

I didn't have any weapons that were of a kind like theirs, but I still felt secure with the scout rifle in my hands. Even in tight quarters I was confident I could use the gun to its full potential. You didn't need a scope to be accurate if you knew how your gun worked.

As the basement leveled out, I let a grimace cross my face. The Hive had been busy indeed. Tunnels dug into the earth, bypassing the foundation of the building to the point where I was shocked the entire structure hadn't collapsed. Even more disturbing were how many entrances there were. Five total into the ground, and only three of us. We had no idea what kind of resistance there was beneath our feet. I was loathe to split up, but we'd cover more ground that way. In addition, all three of us were trained and prepared for working solo better than Titans or Warlocks. We were made to dive into places like this alone. Sasha took stock and nodded slightly before turning around to face us.

"A delightful horror movie we've found ourselves in. We're going to split up, but I'm not going to leave these other two entrances unguarded. My tripmines are on a timer, so they won't last near long enough. Suggestions?"

This I had a solution to. When enemies needed to be captured as opposed to killed, it was the Nightstalkers that Cayde called in. Our bows weren't just made for destruction. However, the trap I had in mind was an immense drain on my Light, and I wasn't able to use any other ability while the trap was up, as Ghost usually needed it to recharge my grenade or my smoke bomb. Without either, I was seriously limiting myself. However this was exactly what I had been trained for.

"My Shadowshot doesn't just kill enemies. I can use a shot from it to lay a Void trap down. I can keep it up for a max of ten minutes."

In a fight, ten minutes wasn't long, but this was just for recon. And if I kept it up for too long, I'd collapse from exhaustion. That I had had to figure out while in the field, and it had taken me three days of bedrest to recover from the extended use of my ability. Both of them seemed surprised by this, assuming that their swapped glances were of surprise. Nate was obviously impressed.

"That sounds like the best course of action. We're not mapping the entirety of these tunnels after all. Just trying to see where they go today. An assault would require several fireteams at least. Sasha?" Nate questioned the fireteam leader.

"Sure," she agreed with a nod. "Lay the trap and we'll get going. We'll take the three tunnels next to each other. Cassidy, you go down the middle. Nate, take the tunnel to her right, and I'll take the one on the far right. Regroup after eight minutes. If you get into trouble, try not to scream like a girl and retreat without telling the rest of us."

I took a second to gather my strength and then summoned my bow. Made completely of Void energy, it had whorls and swirls all along it, with a string of pure Void energy. An arrow was summoned as I drew the string back, and I aimed it at the position between the two tunnels we wouldn't be going down. I released it after a second, and the energy stuck to the ground, a dormant threat to any creature of Darkness that happened to pass by. Nodding to the other two, I stepped into my tunnel. The very air felt foreboding: too still to be natural, and too... alive. Like the atmosphere had a mind of its own and was monitoring my progress. All the while, I could feel my Light still attached to that Void trap further back. I had to get a move on.

I moved on swift but silent feet, all too aware of the mounting tension. Something felt profoundly wrong down here, and it was sending my nerves skittering along the edge of unadulterated fear and anxiety. I took several deep breaths to calm myself as I moved along. The caverns were warm, with water dripping down and landing on my armor every so often. Hive growth was still apparent everywhere, but there had yet to be a single Hive around, even a Thrall. With the amount of Hive on Earth, the lack of contact in the tunnels was bizarre. All the while I could feel my strength slowly leaving me the longer my Light when towards the Void trap. How long had it been? Five minutes? The feeling of weakness would only progress the longer I was down. Only three minutes until I needed to make my way back up to meet with Nate and Sasha.

"Ghost? Anything at all on radar?"

"No. This is unnatural for the Hive. They wouldn't stand for the Fallen encroaching so readily on their territory, especially on territory so close to one of their lairs."

Great. Just what every Guardian wanted to hear. Unnatural behavior led to an unpredictable enemy, which did not bode well for being on hostile territory. Frowning, I tried to ignore the headache starting to build and the sweat trickling down my face. Three minutes until I had to release my hold on the Shadowshot. One until rendezvous. That was when the tunnel opened up in a subterranean gathering point. The area the Hive had dug out had to have been at least the size of three city blocks. My radar suddenly lit up with red, and it took everything I had not to jump in surprise. Seasoned as I was, it was still shocking to see so many Hive in one place. Acolytes, Knights, Thrall, and several Wizards. To my growing shock, there was also a couple Ogres mixed into the group. There had to have been at least two-hundred Hive packed into this one place, and in the middle...

There was a projection. It looked like a Hive Wizard, but older. Somehow more regal. Its face still had that withered mouth full of teeth. The helmet all Wizards had was perched on her head, but the horns on it were large and rounded as opposed to straight up. I hadn't seen any other Hive with that design. The eyes on the projection were glowing white, and I shuddered at the memory of the Taken. But what chilled me to the bone was the fact that this Wizard - this Hive matron - was speaking in a language I could understand.

"Your king has fallen. His son, dead before his father. Now I stand before you to say that the Light will fall, and we will all take it from the Kingslayers together. We will rise as one being and destroy their City as they destroyed our master. And when we strike, it shall be without mercy and it shall be absolute. Their Light will belong to the Darkness!"

A frightening chorus of roars and shrieks of agreement rose up in unanimous agreement, and my breath caught in time for the world to start spinning.

"Cassidy, release the trap! It's taking too much of a toll on you. We need to get back to the others."

Right, the others. Rendezvous had been two minutes ago.

I backed away into the tunnel, using every ounce of my willpower to push against the tide of fatigue threatening to overwhelm me. The headache had come on as a constant pounding now, as if a Titan was laying haymakers on my helmet with unconstrained strength. I'd long gotten used to the layer of sweat pouring down my face. Just as I thought I was going to finally pass out, I burst up into the entrance of the basement, allowing the Void to collapse in on itself. A pair of arms caught me as I stumbled forward, followed by a low chuckle.

"Didn't think you were the type to fall into a man's arms so easily, Cassidy. I'll keep that in mind for the future."

Despite the humor in Nate's voice, there was a very clear undercurrent of concern. I didn't even have the strength to flush and pull away like I wanted to. I just needed to be off of my own feet.

"Cassidy, are you ok?"

Sasha's voice cut through the air, but it was my Ghost that answered.

"Whenever Cassidy uses her Shadowshot to lay a trap as she did, it takes all of my focus and her Light to keep it up as long as it needs to be. That's why she can't use her other Nightstalker abilities. Everything goes into that trap. However anything past the ten minute mark is too much of a drain on her Light. It will take time for her to recover."

I nodded faintly in agreement as Nate set me gently next to the wall. I didn't care if the ground was cold at this point. I just wanted to sleep, but that would have to wait until we got back to the Tower.

"Did you... did you guys see the Wizard?" I questioned in a murmur, closing my eyes.

"Not me," Sasha said, the question clear in her tone. Nate responded with a negative too, and I felt strangely comforted that at least I'd seen this new threat. If this projection was seen across Earth, or wherever the Hive were, the City was going to have a serious problem on its hands besides just cleaning up the rest of the Taken.

"We need to get back to the City. The Vanguard... has to know what's going on. We need to...prepare."

Adrenalin wormed its way through my system, but I still felt like a sack of bricks. Nate strode over and helped me up, wordlessly taking an arm and wrapping it around his shoulder.

"Then let's go," he said, all business. I'd at least spooked them a bit, but I didn't have the energy to really go into detail of what I'd seen.

Sasha took point immediately, and Nate swapped his shotgun for a handcannon, and I wasn't sure why I was surprised that it was The Devil You Know. Still, he was alert as he followed up after Sasha. He clearly trusted her a lot to just follow her wherever she was going. I figured that she was going to get clear of the hotel and then lock in for transmat out of there. The Fallen, however, were still in an uproar. Getting out without a fight was going to be a miracle. Luckily, I had two of the Guardians with me that could make miracles happen. We hadn't even stepped outside when Sasha lit up in a brilliant blaze of flame, drawing an equally flaming pistol from her belt. Four shots sang out, followed by explosions and alien cries of pain. The Golden Gun. I'd seen it before, but Sasha had fired off four shots instead of the usual three. _Must be an artifact from Xur,_ I dimly realized. _The Symbiote. Looks tainted by Hive, but it clearly augments her Light._ I'd been personally saving for a gun, but armor seemed wise after witnessing Sasha's display, and as Fallen came out back to further confront us, Nate also took center stage. I barely noticed as he passed me over to Sasha, who was wielding her Hawkmoon one-handed to great effect. But all of my attention was on Nate.

His Arc Blade came to life in a flash of light, and he, too, as a whirlwind of destruction. The Fallen he hit disintegrated at each slice, and while the hardier captains could take a couple blows, that was all. Nate carved his way through the Captain with two swords like it was paper, only a grunt over the comms telling me he'd taken a blow for his troubles. He returned to my side almost immediately as we broke for the trees, again looping an arm over his shoulder to help me walk. Sasha had taken over watching our backs, sniper slung in her hands as she kept anyone else approaching at bay. However it was just a stall tactic. As soon as we reached the relative safety of the trees, she came over to help Nate and I, and our pace quickened towards open road.

The hum of our ships sounded overhead, drowning out our rapid breathing.

"You're going to ride with me, Cass," Sasha immediately said, appraising my condition. I felt a bit better with the brief respite from doing anything, but I was far from being able to pilot effectively. Heat rose to my cheeks, and I was thankful neither could see my embarrassment. I still felt like a burden when compared to these two. They were legends, and here I was being dragged around like deadweight. I couldn't muster a protest as Ghost teleported me into Sash'a ship, a sleek and exotic-looking ship. It had three separate wings, and even a kid could tell it was of Awoken make. The Gunslinger took her proper place in the pilot's chair, her Ghost whirring into life.

"Setting a course for the Tower. Shall I alert Cayde ahead of time for him to call the Vanguard together?"

"No, Legion. Cass needs to rest. We'll let her recover for a day and then have her brief Cayde and the rest of us. Let Zack and Jesse know that we'll need to meet them when we land. We'll set her up in our bunkhouse so they can watch her."

A delayed hint of surprise wound through me at the nickname.

It was almost like she considered me part of the team.

* * *

I fell asleep at some point on the ride back to the Tower. When I next woke up, it was in a soft bed, but only my helmet had been removed. I silently thanked Sasha for her thoughtfulness. She was in the room idly sharpening her knife, and she wasn't alone. Sitting across from her was one of Spearhead's Warlocks. I honestly couldn't tell who it was. Zack and Jesse were twins, and they both had short black hair and blue eyes. The major difference between the two of them were their personalities. Zack was shy but polite from what I'd heard, and Jesse... well, for a Sunsinger, he was pretty cold. Easily annoyed and short of temper from what people said. I took stock of my condition. I still felt kind of sluggish and had the remnants of that murderous headache, but it was lessened to a tolerable degree. Actually, all things considered, I felt pretty good.

At my movements, Sasha looked up, a smile brightening her face. Without the helmet, Sasha looked like any regular person. She had friendly green eyes and brown hair in a sharp pixie cut. A scar marred her left cheek, and I wondered what the story was behind it. She rose from the chair, as did her Warlock companion. With the frown on his face, I immediately guessed that it was Jesse she had been sitting with.

"So you're the Hunter with a death wish?" He questioned tartly, not even bothering with a greeting. I frowned immediately, and from the lack of amusement from my Ghost, it was pretty clear he wasn't impressed either.

"And you're the Warlock with a bad attitude?" I retorted flatly. Really, how could this guy be a Sunsinger? Most of them had personalities as bright as their specialization. He, however, did not. Funnily enough, Zack was the Voidwalker of the group, a talent more suited for his brother after this first impression. Sasha laid a restraining hand on Jesse's shoulder as the Warlock curled his hand into a fist.

"Come on now, we're all friends here. Cass, this is Jesse. Jesse, this is Cass. He stayed by your side for a few hours and popped his Radiance a couple of times. We decided to try an experiment to see if his Radiance would help your Light recover faster. Looks like a resounding success. You were only down for the few hours Jesse was here after you fell asleep."

I felt my temper only slightly abate. Enough, at least, to say neutrally, "thank you for your help, Jesse."

The Warlock in question snorted slightly, moving to depart. Sasha stopped him with a light slap on his shoulder, and he heaved a large sigh.

"You're welcome," he said with great reluctance. "Try not to be so suicidal next time."

And with that, he departed, leaving me feeling very un-Guardian-like, and Sasha heaving a great sigh of the long-suffering. I felt pretty bad that she had to deal with a guy like him on a regular basis. That exchange was the only time thus far where I'd seen her discouraged. Though to be fair, I'd only known her for a few hours. If randomly joining up with someone on a mission counted as 'knowing' someone. With Jesse now gone, I took stock of the room I as in. It wasn't the medical ward of the tower. That I was certain of. Sasha had said something about bunking me in Spearhead's quarters, but I didn't imagine they'd have a guest room. A couch made up like a bed caught my eye, and I raised an eyebrow curiously. Sasha followed my gaze.

"Yeah... we didn't really have a guest room ready, so I just had you crash here at my place. Nate was pretty insistent that you stick with him, but I figured you'd be more comfortable here."

I nodded my thanks as I ran a hand through my hair. The red strands had rats in them, no doubt thanks to my helmet. I had no idea what my eyes looked like, but blue never looked good with bloodshots. Hopefully I'd had enough rest to ward any of that off.

"No worries, you can take a shower before we leave too." Sasha had read my mind, though I tilted my head in a question. "We're going to see the Vanguard and brief them on what you saw," she explained further, unnecessarily. I was more wondering why her fireteam, besides she and Nate, felt the need to come along.

However I wasn't about to argue. If what I saw came to fruition, we'd need the entirety of the City's strength to fight the Hive.


	3. Chapter 3: The Response

_Chapter Three: The Response_

* * *

 _The greatest weapon the Guardians have is their ability to work together. All the gifts in the world don't mean anything if they drown alone in the Darkness. -Anonymous_

* * *

Normally after a scouting mission, Cayde would gather all of the info, decide what the most important bits were, and bring those bits to the other two Vanguard representatives. Sasha must have alerted Cayde that this was an urgent report, however, as all three Vanguard members were present when we entered the briefing room. Not only them, but all of Fireteam Spearhead was present as well. Jesse was standing alongside Zack. Nate was chumming it up with the two Titans of the group, Maria and Felix. Maria was the Defender of Spearhead. Felix was under unique circumstances. While originally a Striker, he was training to become a full-fledged Sunbreaker. It wasn't odd for Guardians to train in more than one area, but normally each one found a specific class they really clicked with. Clearly Felix thought Sunbreaker was his calling.

Regardless, I felt a sense of both awe and nervousness well in me. The best Guardians in the Tower were all present, and all, including the Vanguard, were going to watch me speak. Ghost seemed slightly annoyed at the emotions swelling in me, and I almost imagined him giving me a shove to get me to focus. As Sasha and I entered, all heads turned to look at me. I fought to keep my face a blank mask as I took a place next to Cayde. Ikora gave me a reassuring smile, which I was grateful for as I caught sight of Eris Morn lurking in the shadows near Zavala. _Well, so much for not being intimidated._ Thankfully, Cayde pressed forward before I could get more rattled.

"Welcome ladies, gentlemen, Eris," he began, and I caught Sasha try to hold in a choked laugh at the sneer Eris had gotten. She and Cayde had never gotten along well. "Our scouts have returned from Relic Park with few casualties, and Sasha and Nathan in particular, with Cassidy's help, completed a task far more invasive. With what Sasha told me, it's something you all need to hear."

He motioned the Gunslinger forward, but she shook her head and held up a hand.

"Actually, it's Cassidy who'll be able to tell you what was found. She's the one who found what we were looking for."

All eyes again turned to me, and I half wished I could just crawl back under Sasha's shadow. But she gave me a nudge on the shoulder, and I sighed inwardly before beginning.

"What I found in the tunnels was a projection much like Oryx used to communicate to the members of Spearhead when they interrupted his affairs. This, however, wasn't Oryx, but a Hive Wizard. High ranking from the looks of it, and powerful enough to project herself. Weirdly enough... she spoke in perfect English much like Oryx could. There had to have been at least two-hundred Hive down there. This got me thinking. With all of the Hive withdrawing back underground across the globe, and on the Moon, perhaps she summoned all of them to hear her words. What I didn't get was why she spoke in our language, but I suspect she wanted at least one Guardian to hear her threat."

"Which was...?" That was Maria, an accent from the far south flavoring her words.

"She wants to crush the City as retribution for Oryx and Crota's deaths. For her to so openly voice her challenge must mean she's very confident in her success."

A sigh left Cayde's mouth, his shoulders slumping in resignation.

"We always just trade one villain for another. Thank you, Cassidy, for your report."

I nodded, glad my part was over. For the Vanguard, however, the conversation was just getting started, and the members of Spearhead seemed to pay even more attention as Cayde set his hands on the table.

"So once again it appears that we've angered one Hive god or another by destroying a relative. Big surprise there. Anyways, the good part about this is that this Wizard doesn't really have anywhere to hide. The only two likely places it could be are the Dreadnaught and the Moon. The trick is finding her. But I'm sure Zavala has some ideas about that."

Indeed, I could tell just by looking at Zavala that the Titan Vanguard was ready for action. Spearhead's Titans visibly straightened, probably a reflex from the training their mentor instilled in them. The Titan Vanguard placed his hands on he table too, bringing up a map of the City.

"Like we did when Oryx first emerged, we'll bolster the City's defenses and keep all Guardians on high alert for any attacks or suspicious happenings around the solar system. Ikora, I want your best and brightest working on the identity of the Wizard, as well as studying the layout of both the Dreadnaught and the Moon. Wherever she is hiding, you need to uncover it so we can send Spearhead to deal with her. Cayde, your Hunters should take a more direct approach, and scout out even deeper the entrances to Hive fortresses that we've found, as well as find entrances we haven't explored. We have to root her out before she makes good on her threat. Eris, do you-"

The grim woman stepped from her corner, her hands stroking the orb she always had in an agitated state as she interrupted Zavala's question.

"I know whom she is, but nothing more. There were times in the Pit of the Moon where I could hear Crota call to his Matron for the key to defeating the Light once and for all. She never answered in ways I could hear, but with both the threats from Crota and Oryx gone, it seems like she has decided to take matters into her own hands. Be wary, Guardians," she said, an ominous edge to her voice. "The Matron is clearly supported by the rest of her kind. She has power on the levels of Crota and Oryx themselves if she is able to project herself."

Great. Just what we all needed to hear, not that it was surprising to hear Eris confirm our fears. This, however, did not deter Zavala.

"Thank you for your input, Eris. For now, we have all of the information we can possess. Let us attend to our respective duties and start getting ourselves organized."

The Vanguard began departing one by one to seek their respective areas for planning with their groups of Guardians. Cayde, however, stayed put, and Nate and Sasha didn't make a muscle to move. I wasn't sure what to do at this point, though I was sure he wanted a word with Spearhead's Hunters. However he surprised me by uncrossing his arms and addressing me.

"Cassidy, I've sent a summons for what Nightstalkers the Tower has on hand. You're going to be the eyes for both the Vanguard and Spearhead. While the Nightstalkers check out the lay of the land, Spearhead will be on standby until one of you finds something. They'll be dispatched immediately to check out anything you find. I want you to coordinate directly with Sasha here and let them know if any of the Nightstalkers find something they need to check out."

I let all of that soak in, realizing with a start that he was placing control of the Nightstalkers in my hands while the search was on.

"Cayde? Why pick me out of all the others? I'm not the oldest Nightstalker currently here."

"No, but I like your spunk. Sometimes caution isn't always the best answer, which is what the majority of Nightstalkers adhere to. I need someone who isn't afraid to take the plunge now and again to carve a path forward. Now get going and distribute these orders: you are to spread out over the Moon and Earth in known Hive locations to find anything and everything related to this Matron character. Whatever you find is to be relayed to you and then back to Sasha and myself. We clear?"

Letting out a breath to steady myself, I nodded, still shocked that I'd been chosen as ground commander.

"Crystal clear," I agreed, much to my Ghost's satisfaction.

"Good," Cayde said, as if this wasn't an extraordinary moment. "Now get going. The Hive aren't going to spontaneously combust while you're here."

* * *

That was how, an hour later, I found myself scouring the barren landscape of the Moon, no company other than my Ghost. It hadn't changed much from when I was last there. It was still wholly quiet. The unnerving kind of quiet that sent paranoid whispers through your mind. No wind blew across the surface, and the steps of hundreds of other Guardians littered the ground, untouched by time. Some of them, I knew, were long dead. Others still walked the Tower's halls. But today they weren't my focus. Instead, I stared down at the stone bridge that lead down into The Pit of the moon, mentally bracing myself. Besides Spearhead, the Vanguard hadn't allowed anybody down into the depths of Crota's lair. Hive still inhabited its forsaken tunnels in huge numbers. But the Vanguard was desperate to find out where the Hive Matron was, and thus I had assigned myself to Crota's former dwelling.

The rest of the Nightstalkers I had assigned to mostly Earth, though a small contingent had come with me to the Moon to explore Crota's Temple and its labyrinth, among other places in the craggy undercrofts. I had ordered them away from the Pit specifically, as, while there were times to be cautious, this was not one of them. Like Cayde had essentially said, you had to take risks sometimes to find the path forward.

Taking another deep breath, I leapt off into the open air.

Gravity took hold from there, albeit slower than on Earth, and I felt myself fall into the darkness below. Despite the fact that the fall itself was not very long, it felt like ages were going by, and by the time I slammed into the ground with a sharp bark of my pain, it seemed like I was years older than when I had first descended. The wrongness of the Hive surrounded me. Dark shadows and shattered remnants of the moon littered the ground. A thick, disgusting ooze was off of the path in front of me, and along that path was shards of busted lanterns. I'd read about these lanterns in the after-action reports that Spearhead had provided. Evidently they kept the Darkness at bay and allowed them to run through this area relatively quickly. With the death of Crota, some of that Darkness had dissipated, and I felt nothing hamper my movements as I took my steps into the oppressing shadows. Ghost came forward to light my way, his light the only thing allowing me to see the path ahead. Idle munchings from the deep indicated whether or not Thralls were nearby. As it was, there was a low rumbling almost out of my field of hearing, and I didn't need Ghost to tell me that we weren't alone on the lanterns' path. Of course that didn't account for what the light was at the bridge leading to where Spearhead had crossed fully into Crota's domain. It took a good ten minutes of silent hiking to get to where the light was at the mouth of the bridge.

Waiting there was one of Ikora's Warlocks, and not just any Warlock. Jesse was kneeling at the edge of the bridge, his Ghost hovering next to him. The only reason I could tell it was Jesse and not Zack was because of his robes. Jesse wore the Heart of Praxic Fire robes, while Zack did not. It also helped that Zack was more often than not wearing the Obsidian Mind helmet. A seemingly visorless black slab, it was eerie, and I wondered why the more amiable twin wore it. But it was, unfortunately, not the kinder twin in front of me.

"Guardian Fenway," I greeted, "what are you doing here?"

The Warlock in question straightened up, rolling his shoulders as he turned to face me with his Ghost.

"Ikora thought it would be prudent to send a small group of Warlocks alongside the Nightstalkers to be an extra pair of eyes. I didn't expect to see a Hunter down here though. Least of all you, Guardian Drake."

I immediately felt a frown cross my face, and my Ghost had a similar reaction. Guardians like Jesse were why I hated working in fireteams. At least alone I wouldn't have to deal with any sneered remarks or condescension. But it looked like I was stuck with Spearhead's most aggressive member for the time being. That didn't mean I had to converse with him, however. Without a word, I brushed past the Warlock and continued across the bridge, Ghost equally silent beside me. However Jesse wasn't done talking.

"Where do you think you're going?"

I felt a frown cross my lips, but I turned my head slightly to answer.

"I'm going to where you guys killed Crota. If there was anywhere in this place that he would commute with something, it would have to be his sanctum. There would be a small chance of him being disturbed, and judging from what we know about the Hive, they commonly keep their most valuable information where it can be the most well-protected. Where else in this pit would that be, hm?" No answer. "I'm not going to force you to follow me. I'm sure you can find plenty of information here."

He didn't answer, and I felt satisfied that I'd presented a logical point. Of course that didn't stop me from hearing pursuing footsteps. Turning around yet again, I watched as Jesse began following afterwards, his strides purposeful as he came to match me step for step.

"Like it or not, I'm coming with you. With the Hive stirred up, there's no telling what could be down here."

Much as I respected Spearhead, I still was not a fan of teaming up with their moody Warlock. But I didn't really have a choice. After all, there was safety in numbers sometimes, especially in circumstances like this. While there were times to go it alone, this was probably not one of them since the opportunity to have backup presented itself. And despite his personal shortcomings, Jesse was a capable Guardian. There was a reason he was one of the top Warlocks currently in service, though I had never seen him in action before. I couldn't help but study him from the corner of my eye as we crossed the bridge to Crota's realm. He was probably around five feet ten inches tall, but it wasn't his physical build that caught my eyes so much as his weaponry.

 _That's the Red Death pulse rifle_ , my Ghost confirmed, clearly unnerved by the gun. _It's a weapon with a tainted history. Many Guardians have fallen to it. So many, in fact, that the Vanguard has banned the weapon, and anyone that finds it is supposed to turn it in._

 _He must have gotten permission to keep it_ ,I mused. _There's absolutely no way he would be able to walk around the tower with it freely otherwise. Hero or not, he's still subject to the rules the Vanguard has laid down._

 _Whatever the case may be, I still don't like it,_ Ghost grumbled, and I couldn't help but agree. But I also knew that the Red Death would not be turned on me anytime soon. The only thing I really had to worry about was Jesse's sharp tongue and whatever awaited us further into the Pit. Our footsteps echoed unnaturally as we crossed the bridge, the new silence deafening. The feeling only increased as we entered the fathomless light that led deeper into Crota's realm. There it only grew quieter. Jesse stepped ahead of me, albeit cautiously. The hairs on the back of my neck were standing up at the strange emptiness of this new area, but I couldn't discern any immediate threat. I could just barely make out Jesse's Ghost as he brought it forth into the palm of his hand.

"Raven, get me a scan of the area."

"Would it kill you to say please every once in a while?" His Ghost responded in an exasperated tone even as she worked. However from the affection also present, it was clear that she didn't mind.

"It just might," he responded as seriously as possible. However surprised raced through me at the hint of a smile there. And here I thought he was just a massive jerk to everyone. After a few more seconds of scanning, his Ghost - Raven - contracted to her regular ball shape and turned back to Jesse.

"It looks like there's nothing here. With Crota gone, the Hive don't really have a reason to stay here. Even the Thrall we heard at the landing of the Pit will soon be gone."

I let myself fall deep into thought. It didn't matter that Crota was dead. Well, it did, but even still, Hive had gathered in the bowels of nowhere to hear this matron speak. Surely there would have been even a small party here to hear her.

"Well, there's nothing here. We may as well leave and inform the Vanguard that this isn't the place we're looking for."

"No," I insisted. "I'm going deeper. There has to be something that could clue us in to where she is."

"And Raven didn't pick up anything. This whole venture down here was a waste of time."

Ignoring his protests, I leapt down from the balcony, using a minute amount of light to give an extra hop before hitting the ground. The last thing I needed was to compromise my armor. The bridge leading even further in was still up, a testament to Spearhead's efforts to infiltrate this place on more than one occasion. I didn't hear pursuing footsteps this time, and I held back a scowl. Some Guardian he was. I had thought he'd get a sense of purpose about him, but I supposed that even Warlocks had their limits of investigation. Then again, why would he be resistant? This wasn't something that could be given half effort. We needed to check everywhere we could. _Who needs him anyway? I've worked on my own for long enough. I can check the rest of this place myself._

I proceeded quietly, keeping my footsteps light and my ears sharp. Just because Jesse and his Ghost hadn't picked anything up, that didn't mean there weren't enemies about. If anything, the deserted nature of the Pit only served to make me even more on edge than I already was. By the time I made it through what I had personally dubbed the Hallway to Hell, my irritation at Jesse had all but been spent. Looking down into the hole where Crota had ultimately met his fate at the hands of the greatest fireteam to ever walk the Tower, I felt my breath catch. I never thought I'd visit this place. With that last bit of hero worship out of the way, I leapt down. The sludge my feet met was slick and disgusting, a testament to just how filthy our enemies really were. Still there was nothing but silence, but now I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up again. This whole place still felt wrong despite the departure of Crota's soul. Nevertheless, I swallowed my unease and continued forward until I could emerge from the doorway. The tombs of the Hive were ugly. Crota's, as the prince of this place, had his on the top platform where he had died. I looked around and took in the rest of the space. The sanctum was in ruins. While I doubted that a place so ancient would be whole, I had expected it to be in marginally better condition. But despite how rundown it was, the architecture was fascinating, and despite how disturbingly the Hive portrayed their gods, it was clear from the effort how fervent their belief was.

"Ghost, can you do a scan of the area? I'm wondering if there's anything at all here that could explain who this matron is or where she might be."

"Of course," he responded instantly, popping into the air next to me before flying out into the graveyard. I kept my Gheleon's tight to me, anything I perceived as noise immediately drawing my attention to it. But all stayed undisturbed as Ghost flew from coffin to coffin, and scripture to scripture. By the time we ended up in the top level of the building, Ghost still hadn't found anything related to the Crota's prayers to the matron or of the matron herself. The doors were all shut tight with no obvious way to open them, and I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach. Jesse had been right. It had been a waste of time to come this far.

"Ok Ghost, that's enough. Let's get out of here and see if the other Nightstalkers found anything. Lock for transmat."

After a second of whirring, he looked at me, and I could almost feel his puzzlement.

"I can't get a lock."

A heavy sense of foreboding settled in my gut. Jesse hadn't been wrong. There had to be something here blocking my transmat, and until I found out what it was, I couldn't get out.

"Ghost, stick with me until I find us a way out of here."

He didn't bother giving me an affirmative as he dematerialized away, and I was left alone to look around. Nothing stuck out to me that could possibly be blocking my way out. My enhanced radar was clear, and the area was still quiet all the way around the sanctum. However something caught my eye in one of the towers off to the side. A pulsing orb of green energy was just hovering there. It was unlike anything I'd ever seen. Guardians had collected reports on Tomb Husks and on Taken bombs, but this was neither of those. While it more closely resembled the latter, it was obviously different. I reached out a cautious hand to it, surprised when it suddenly started pulsating. I found myself leaping back through shadow and mist as I triggered my Shadowstep, narrowly dodging a wave of heat and green fire. At once, a projection appeared over Crota's tomb, the same Hive wizard I had seen before, but now I knew that I myself had brought her attention here.

"Filth! How dare you desecrate the resting ground of Crota! Your light will fall to the shadows!"

All at once I saw Hive begin to teleport in from rifts of their own. The once quiet graveyard became a cacophony of furious noises and howls of fury. There had to have been at least two dozen Acolytes present, with at least a dozen Thralls and half a dozen Knights. And that was just what I could see from my positon on the ground. Without missing a beat, I turned and hightailed it to the hole in the ceiling that I had come down in the first place, my heart rate skyrocketing as I also whipped out my heavy machine gun, The Zombie Apocalypse. Thank the Traveler I had stocked up on heavy ammo before leaving the Tower. The doorway was huge, but it still made an effective bottlenose position, which very quickly turned into a kill zone. Thralls came pouring down after me, inhuman shrieks of hunger emitting from them. My weapon cut them down in swaths, the rounds tearing through flesh and bone to hit multiple targets.

When my magazine ran dry I swapped to my scout rifle, and that's when everything began breaking down. Acolytes came into my field of vision as well as a group of sword-wielding Knights. My heart was hammering in my chest as they rushed me, and I fought to get sights on - and eliminate - as many Acolytes as possible. The Knights could wait. Unfortunately, for every Acolyte I killed, another one replaced it, and I was forced to back up and get out of their line of sights as I brought my machine gun back out and reloaded. By the time I was done, the Knights were upon me, and I leapt up out of their reach, summoning every ounce of Light within me to bring my void bow into existence. I had three shots to use, and two of them slammed into targets, tethering the four Knights to the ground and giving me a few seconds of time.

The third never went off, as I felt shots from the Acolytes peppering my armor, but the first one that broke the integrity of my suit burned, and my bow winked out of existence with it. Shock rolled through me even as I felt my machine gun rematerialize back into my hands. There would be time to puzzle on what happened later, but at that moment, all of my instincts were screaming at me to shoot. Heavy ammo ate away at the foes I had tethered. Two had gone down and another was well on its way by the time they broke free, but Ghost hadn't had the time to repair the injury I had suffered, nor my armor. The untouched Knight swung his sword with a sideways slash that caught me across the chest and sent me stumbling back with a shout of agony. The wound was burning furiously, and I gunned both Knights down quickly, but then the other two came into my field of vision. I leapt and hugged the wall where they couldn't see me and waited for Ghost to get my armor and body back to top shape.

"I can't fix your wounds, Cassidy," he informed me, a panic in his voice. "The most I can do is repair your armor."

The situation was rapidly deteriorating, which was apparent as explosions began rocking the ground to my left, and the growls of Acolytes closing in reached me. With no way out, I was as good as dead. What I didn't count on was a shimmered shape to drop down from the ceiling, and for that shape to immediately drop camouflage and sling a violent orb of purple energy out the door. The screams of the Hive sang to my ears, and I stood up to peek around the corner, taking the heads off of two Acolytes who had escaped the blast and were attempting to fight back. The Warlock, as I could now see, took cover on the other side of the doorframe. Taking them in, I found myself recognizing Jesse's twin, Zack.

"Guardian Fenway," I breathed out in relief. "What are you doing here? I thought your brother was-"

"Yeah," he interrupted sheepishly, pulling The Last Word from his belt, "Jesse was ranting to me about some impudent Nightstalker. When he said he left you down here, I decided to come and help, and convinced him to as well. He's getting us a way out of this hole."

I didn't know what was more shocking: that Jesse had actually agreed to come back, or that Zack had spoken so much in one go. He was notoriously the quieter twin. Nevertheless, I wasn't going to complain as I joined my own fire with Zack's to stem the tide of Acolytes trying to kill us. Before long, all had fallen silent again. The Hive matron had clearly thought she'd killed me, or she'd given up. Either way, I was thankful. Where the Acolyte and Knight had broken my armor, the wounds were still bothering me. They burned like a persistent acid, and from Ghost had said, he still couldn't heal them. Why? And what had happened to my void bow? There were too many questions, and all I wanted to do was get out of the Pit and get myself seen too. The Warlocks especially would probably be interested in finding out exactly what had happened.

"Did I not tell you to not be so suicidal?"

Jesse's voice rang out from overhead, and I could easily picture the scowl on his face as he threw the end of a rope down. Zack tsked quietly, the combat rush from earlier now gone and replacing his talkativeness with that silence I'd heard so much about.

"Give her a break, Jesse. She was just trying to do her job."

Scoffing, he held the rope as the pair of us down below climbed it.

"We can now transmat out of here," my Ghost announced before anyone else could speak. "Cassidy, I'm getting a signal from a Guardian on the Moon."

I nodded, tapping into the frequency I was being hailed on.

"This is Guardian Drake."

"Drake, this is Guardian Vern over in the World's Grave. We've found mention of something the Vanguard may be interested in. Says here that the main reason the Moon began to fall in the first place was due to some ability this matron had to stop the Traveler's technology from being effective. Anything that had to do with the Light suddenly became much less effective. As for where she is or why she left, the library doesn't say. At least, not where my Ghost can find it."

"So you're saying that this Hive matron and the one from before the Moon fell are the same being?" I asked in shock. Those correspondences I'd found on Venus had been referring to the wizard we were currently dealing with. That was an incredibly important discovery. Perhaps we could dig up some old records to try and get a better idea of what she could do. After a couple more minutes of talking, I ordered the Nightstalkers off of their jobs and back to the Tower for further orders from Cayde. Jesse and Zack had been quiet throughout my conversation, and only began speaking to me again after I was done.

"So?" Jesse asked, his tone still unfriendly. "Can we get out of here now gotten what you need?"

Now that the fight was over, as well as the pressing report from my fellow Nightstalker, the true ache of my wounds began to bother me. There was dealing with phantom pains, and then there was having to deal with still open wounds. Not only did I have to grit my teeth to suppress any outward signs of them, I also was feeling exhausted. It would be best not to fly in my condition. With great reluctance, I realized I had to ask Jesse for his help yet again. Perhaps a Sunsinger's healing could fix whatever my Ghost couldn't.

"Just about," I finally said with great reluctance. "I need you to take a look at the wounds I got. My Ghost can't heal them."

"Why? Is he malfunctioning?"

I was just about done with the attitude. Insult me? Ok, I could take that. Insult my Ghost? All bets were off.

"No," I snapped harshly, feeling the sword slash act up fully as I took a step towards him. "Back down there, my void bow disappeared the second an Acolyte managed to break my armor, and the sword slash I took isn't able to be healed either. The armor wasn't a problem. My body, however, apparently is. I don't know what's wrong, but-" God, why did I always have to look like a damsel in distress in front of Spearhead. My head was swimming and I let myself have the luxury of sitting on the floor, ignoring the stink of the Hive around us. Jesse curse and knelt down while his twin took up a defensive position.

"Ok, show me where you got hit."

The first thing to come off was my shoulder pad. Ghost hadn't bothered repairing the undersuit, and this was the first glimpse I myself was getting of the damage. What I saw had a groan of disgust slipping through my lips. The wound itself seemed like any other penetration wound from a bullet. But what was different was the toxic-looking green ooze around the entrance and in the wound itself. I half-expected the noxious mix to start bubbling. Jesse's hand was strangely gentle as he pressed down near the wound, withdrawing when a grunt left me. At once, a golden flame licked at his hand and he laid it on my shoulder. For whatever reason, the touch itself made the pain of it ten times worse, and I felt myself scream, but Jesse was having none of it. If anything, he pressed down harder, using his other hand to keep me from squirming away. After a couple of seconds, the pain abated. Feeling like I had sweated up a storm dealing with it, I glanced at my shoulder. Nothing remained of the festering wound. Looking at Jesse, I could see his shoulders heaving, like he'd been running a marathon.

"I don't know what kind of hit you took, Drake, but that wasn't anything I've seen before. It was almost like... like the wound was fighting the Light I was using. As it is," he said with a sigh, "that took a lot out of me. We're going to have to get you back to the Tower to get that sword wound healed. And knowing Ikora, she's going to want to examine it first. Do you think you can fly?"

I nodded, allowing myself to be pulled up by Zack as he leant me a hand. Jesse's sudden shift of mood - from irritated and uncooperative to helpful and marginally concerned - was baffling, but that wasn't something to dwell on for the moment.

"Yes, I can at least fly."

"We'll escort you," Zack put in as his Ghost appeared in the palm of his hand. He disappeared a second later, and Jesse and I soon followed. After a quick rendezvous in our respective ships, we began the trip back to Earth. Despite the disturbing turn, we'd made some progress. Hopefully Spearhead would be able to put the information to good use, and hopefully we could find and stop the matron before the situation deteriorated further.

 ** _A/N; Thank you for your reviews, Jsm and Jayfeather. It always means a lot to see that people are enjoying my work, and I hope this chapter is just as good as the ones previous :)_**


	4. Chapter 4: The Escalation

_Chapter Four: The Escalation_

* * *

 _The Vanguard was always meticulous when it came to their battles. When the scouts came home with their reports, the hammer would either fall on their foe, or the Hunters would replace the scouts. At least you could tell when the hammer was poised to strike. -Anonymous_

* * *

The second Jesse, Zack, and I arrived back at the Tower, the three of us made our way to Spearhead's bunkhouse. Perhaps it was an unconventional place to rest up and heal, but I'd sworn both Warlocks to silence, and this was the most secure place I could think of. If word of what the Hive could now do got out too quickly, there would be panic among the Guardians. As brave as we all were, even the smallest seeds of doubt - especially in our current situation - could lead to catastrophic consequences. But I also recognized that waiting too long would put more lives at risk than was worth it. So my plan was to first contact Ikora and have her stop by with a covert group of Sunsingers, and then take what she learned to the Vanguard so they could decide exactly how to break the news to everyone else.

All things considered, the twins were very accommodating for my requests, though I think Zack was more to thank for that than Jesse. The Sunsinger still seemed exhausted from his efforts earlier, which showed in his pale features when he removed his helmet for Raven to store away. Zack had also removed his helmet, and I was glad they elected to just keep their robes on instead of changing into more comfortable loungewear. They were both identical to look at, the only difference being Zack's hair was kept in a closer cut to his head than his brother's. Jesse had opted to keep his about shoulder length and wrapped up in a low and lazy ponytail. I had to admit, both of them were fairly handsome.

"You're going to need to remove your chest piece," Jesse stated bluntly as he dragged a chair over to where I was laying on the couch they had, my hair freely draping over the arm of it. So much for politeness from him. Still, as he was the closest thing we had to a doctor in the Tower, disobeying would be childish, even if I was fairly modest. Granted, I still had my undersuit on, but the idea of removing my armor to reveal it made my face turn a bit red. Nevertheless, I had Ghost dematerialize the chestpiece, and I watched Jesse's face deepen into a frown at the sight of the sword wound he hadn't had the power to deal with.

"Is it just as bad as my shoulder?" I inquired, partially out of curiosity, and partially because I needed any practical subject to talk about.

"It's a shallow wound, considering the size of the swords those Knights have. But it's got the same characteristics of your shoulder wound. Green ooze, no doubt sore to the touch, and I think you already know it's going to hurt when they heal it."

Yeah, I was planning on actually bracing myself this time, since I now knew what to expect. Nevertheless, I felt myself frown. The Hive had never had weapons like this. And the way Jesse had described healing my shoulder had stuck with me. _It was almost like the wound was fighting the Light._ So then what would happen if the wounds were left unattended? Would it be like an infection or poison? Those things could be healed with the Light and I could still be revived. But what if this Hive taint drained my own Light in such a way that I couldn't be revived? Or worse, what if it could corrupt my Light and twist me to serve the Darkness? That last thought had me shiver. I would rather die than be apart of the Darkness. My shiver drew Jesse's attention, and he sighed, clearly unamused as he withdrew to an armchair to await Ikora.

"Stop thinking about it. You won't have to deal with anything more than a possible scar once you get healed. Thinking about how much it's bothering you isn't going to do anything but upset you."

"Try to take a quick nap, Cassidy," my Ghost suggested, his tone far more understanding than Jesse's was as he manifested into being next to me. "I'll be sure to wake you when Ikora gets here with her Sunsingers."

Nodding slightly, I tried to settle down. Despite the worry worming it's way through me, I found that the exhaustion from the ambush won out. It seemed like barely a minute had passed before a gentle hand was shaking me awake.

"Guardian Drake? Wake up, Cassidy."

I'd recognize Ikora's voice everywhere, and I opened my eyes to see a curious and concerned frown on her face.

"Ikora," I greeted sluggishly. "Come to fix me up?"

"That and study what exactly the Hive have done to make wounds like this." Her hand grazed just the edge of it, and I had to hold back a hiss. Jesse came to stand and look over her shoulder, and a grimace crossed his face.

"It's getting worse," he informed her. "We should probably just heal it now before something unexpected happens."

"Yes, can we not leave one of my best Nightstalkers bedridden while you play researcher, Ikora?"

Cayde had swept in, cape billowing behind him as his long stride ruffled the ends of it. I had no idea how he knew I was here until my Ghost popped up.

"I figured it would be prudent to contact Cayde and have him meet us here," he explained. "That way he can see for himself exactly what the Vanguard has to deal with now."

"Oh believe me, I've seen plenty of this already. We've had Nightstalkers coming back with these kinds of wounds since you gave the order to come back to the Tower. The Sunsingers are working their Light to the limits to take care of everything. Whatever it is the Hive can do now, it makes them a bigger threat than they already were. As soon as you've recovered, Cassidy, I want your report. I've summoned most of Spearhead to the Hall of the Vanguards so that we can reevaluate our strategy."

Yeah, it seemed like we'd underestimated the Hive. Although no one could have been prepared for this, I felt partially responsible just from a standpoint of being in charge. I could have at least warned them to watch for anything suspicious. Or not to engage unless they had no other choice.

"You did well, Cassidy, all things considered. We lost three Nightstalkers, but I think your orders of 'do not risk your lives for the mission, disengage when you feel like the situation is hopeless' saved several lives. Spunky and smart. I think I taught you well."

The smug amusement in his voice had Ikora rolling her eyes as she allowed the two Sunsingers she'd brought with her to finally heal me. As I was expecting, it hurt just as bad when Jesse had healed me. Slightly worse, even, thanks to the size of the sword slash itself, and it took everything I had not to thrash around screaming. Somebody grabbed my hand, and judging from the grunt of discomfort the person gave, they hadn't been expecting me to crush their bones into dust. When the pain stopped, I felt just as sweaty and stressed out as I had earlier, but the terrible throbbing of my wound was gone. The two Sunsingers looked drained just as Jesse had down in the Pit of the Moon.

"That's going to leave a scar," one of them informed me. I shrugged, inasmuch as I could while lying down. Scars were nothing new to any Guardian. I already had a small collection. One more wasn't going to kill me. I had Ghost materialize my chestpiece again and I sat up, rubbing a gloved hand across my face. As with all healing, there were still some minor phantom pains, but nothing I hadn't felt before. Still, I felt exhausted and drained. A two hour nap was what I really needed. That would at least give me enough rest to hear what the Vanguard had to say.

"Thank you," I finally responded as I stood up, before switching my gaze to Cayde. "Expect me in an hour to an hour and a half in the Hall of the Vanguards. I just need to take a quick rest."

Cayde nodded and stepped aside to let me pass, and I was grateful that he hadn't protested my desire to recuperate, despite the dire situation that had developed. Regardless, I wandered through the Tower until I got to the hangar and gathered my ship. After that, I was off to the heart of The Last City. Real estate was a tricky business in the city. The further away from the Traveler you were, the lower prices were. The best homes were directly under where the Traveler was. I had a home between the rundown part of the city and the top homes it had. A regular old suburb, though the city as a whole still had problems with crime in every district. There weren't all that many Guardians to patrol the streets.

Nevertheless, as I materialized on the street and allowed Ghost to fly the ship back to the Tower, I still had to suppress a sigh of relief. My house was my hideaway. No one in the Tower knew I had a place out here that I knew of. Most of them assumed I just slept in the Tower. But no, I wasn't a fan of the quarters the Guardians kept. It was too crowded, too noisy, and I wanted to be undisturbed every now and then. My house was nothing fancy. It was a single story, two room house. Three if you counted the bathroom. The kitchen and living area were one in the same, and both could use some cleaning, I noted to myself as I walked in the door. The bedroom was probably in similar disarray. _A nice hot bath is in order, followed by a power nap, followed maybe by food._ Food especially sounded amazing.

Shelves lined the walls bearing trinkets from my time as a Guardian. A picture of my first fireteam sat proudly on the center shelf, surrounded by other knick knacks. The shock pistol from the first Dreg I killed. The sword of a Fallen Captain that had been the first one to kill me. I smiled at that memory. I'd been terrified that death would have been permanent again. I had an old music player from the Golden Age that I had discovered while looking around in old cars. Unrepairable, but still cool. There was a scorched and dented piece of metal from my first ship. I still remembered the verbal thrashing Holliday had given me when I made it back to the Tower. However among all the other treasures, my eyes went back to the framed photograph of my first - and to-date only - team.

The only other Hunter of the group, Kara, was dead, courtesy of a mission gone wrong against the Cabal. The Titan in the group, Caleb, was still alive.

He also hated me.

Another reason I hated working in fireteams: it was too familiar. The last thing I wanted was another team to mess up with. No, I only wanted myself to take the fall if I failed again. Instantly I regretted reminiscing as a sense of old bitterness further ate at my fortitude. Bathtime. I absolutely loved my bathroom. I'd blown an obscene amount of glimmer to have a large tub made by one of the craftsmen the city had, and as a result, it was the true sanctuary of my house. I'd spend hours just relaxing, much to Ghost's chagrin. I filled up the tub quickly and ditched my armor and clothing. The second I entered the water, I let out a sigh of bliss.

Yep, nothing could make problems disappear faster than a bath. Ghost stuck with me, but opted to float silently around the room until a couple minutes had passed.

"I've noticed that Guardian Fenway knows how to provoke your temper quite easily."

A groan left me. I half wanted to play off him talking about Zack, but knew that wouldn't fly. I knew very well that he meant Jesse.

"Yes," I responded, drawing out the word. "But why does that matter? He's an infuriating Warlock with a huge ego. We've met plenty of Guardians like that."

"Yes, but as it seems like we'll be working with him in the foreseeable future, I think you need to try harder to not be drawn into arguments with him. You can't afford distractions like that right now."

"He's the one who starts it!" I exclaimed in disbelief. "I don't know what his problem with me is, but he's the one who needs to get over it, not me."

"Yes, his attitude needs to be reigned in, but if you don't reciprocate then he should, in theory, get bored," my Ghost pressed further, in full-out scolding mode. Times like that made me feel like a child, especially when he was right. If an argument between Jesse and I were to break out in the middle of a fight, who knew what the consequences could be? Then again, we didn't necessarily have to work together again, and if I had to pick a Warlock to work with, it would be anyone but him. With luck my previous run-in with Jesse Fenway would be my last. Of course that was tinged with an inevitable feeling of disappointment. All things considered, most of Spearhead had been accommodating for my sticky situations. It was almost a shame I'd be back to doing solo work now that my part was relatively over in the operation. I'd probably just be sent to scout more locations for the Vanguard while Spearhead tried to track down the matron.

Not that I was entirely against that. Self-sufficient, self-assured, I knew I could work alone if I had to, and I know I wanted to, but some small part of me wanted to work more with my heroes.

Time passed quickly after that. I skipped straight to getting a small bowl of soup before falling asleep in my bed. Half an hour later, I was up and in my Fear Eater armor, a Cloak of the Leopard slung over my shoulders. All of it was dyed black, if only because I preferred to scout at night. It made things harder for me to see, but on the flip side it made it harder for the enemy to see me too. I elected to leave my helmet off as Ghost brought my ship down and teleported me into it. Gripping the controls, I was up and turning back towards the Tower. I made it to the hall about five minutes before I was expected, unsurprised to see that Sasha and Cayde were already present. Judging from the shaking of their shoulders, the two were sharing a joke. Sasha was the first to catch sight of me, and she waved me over with a friendly smile.

"Hey Cass, we've been waiting for you. Everything healed up? Rest ok?"

I nodded as I made it to the Hunter's side of the table.

"Yes, thank you, Sasha. Nothing more than a scar according to the Warlocks, so no lasting harm done. We're going to need to keep a better eye on armor integrity in the future though. Getting hit with the shots the Hive have now is just excrutiating. Moreso than normal," I added as her eyes twinkled with mirth. It was honestly astounding how she found humor in seemingly every situation.

But she didn't have time to say anything else as the other members of her fireteam filed in, followed shortly by the Vanguard. From the paled look on Ikora's face, she'd been busy healing people herself, however she still carried herself with dignity. Zavala showed none of the exhaustion that Ikora did as he strode in and took his place at the head of the table with Spearhead's Titans. He didn't bother with any pomp and circumstance as he began to speak.

"Guardians, I received word a few minutes ago that one of the Nightstalkers that made it back needed to be put down."

His tone was heavy with finality, and I could see the light humor that Cayde and Sasha shared die out immediately. The Hunter Vanguard had stiffened, and despite the fact that he had no muscles, I could tell his jaw had gone tight. Slight unease filled me. It took a lot to make Cayde mad. It took a lot of anything for Cayde to lose his sense of humor. Unfortunately, losing one of his Hunters was one of the things that could do it.

"What do you mean they had to be 'put down?'" He asked with uncharacteristic calm that chilled me to the bone. "And why wasn't I told first?"

"The Tower Guard were the ones to tell me because I was in charge of their placements. According to the report, the Guardian in question began seizing up before flatlining. His Ghost tried to revive him, but something happened. He came back around all right, but his wound wasn't healed. If anything, it was festering worse, and both him and his Ghost were clearly corrupted by the Darkness. The Tower Guard had to take him down because he turned his weapons on the Warlocks trying to help him."

Ikora now was paying sharp attention to the Titan Vanguard, her eyes narrowing into dark slits. Cayde had started pacing, his one-of-a-kind cape flowing with his movements. Agitation was clear in his every movement as he rubbed a hand over his jawline. Sasha was watching him with an abnormally subdued expression, a sad frown pinching her face.

"Who was it?" Cayde finally asked, taking a place next to Sasha again.

"Guardian Halsey-7," Zavala replied after a heavy pause, and shock further filled me. Exos weren't organic. Though they had feelings and nerves just like the rest of us, their wounds didn't bleed. I hadn't even thought that the Hive's new weapon would affect the Exos like it would the Humans and Awoken. But now we had evidence to the contrary. And worst of all, the infection didn't stop at killing the Guardian: it also corrupted them, and the Ghosts that did the reviving. Clearly this information was still being absorbed by the Guardians surrounding me as silence fell. And despite the fact that we had all of the abilities in the universe to fight the Darkness, there wasn't much we could do against the fear I could see growing on everyone's faces.

Fear on the faces of Fireteam Spearhead, and that fact chilled me to the bone.

But the Vanguard wore looks of only grim determination, including Sasha. Catching her look, Spearhead one by one trained their expressions in similar fashions. Nate chuckled under his breath from next to me, and I almost leapt up in surprise. I hadn't even seen him come in.

"Watch Sasha work her magic," he said smugly, though I could still tell he was both uneasy and grieved by the loss of a fellow Hunter. I tried to shove my own feelings deep down. Halsey had been a good Nightstalker. His loss would be felt in our ranks for years. But as Sasha took a step to join Cayde at the table, she took the forefront of my focus. I was shocked when a chuckle left her.

"Quite a mess we've got ourselves tangled in again, right, Spearhead? Well now we know that the Hive aren't just piles of chitin and goo waiting to happen. But hey, we beat the hell out of Oryx together, and some of us were there as far back as when we faced Atheon. One more Hive god or goddess - whatever isn't going to kill us. Besides, I'm betting my bank account of glimmer that the Vanguard has a plan."

Felix scoffed under his breath at the end of her speech, a sound of amusement that relaxed through group a little bit further. Jesse gave the fireteam leader a small nod, his cold blue eyes unreadable, and just like that, the mood in the room changed to a subtle flame of desire to do something - _anything_ \- to stop the Hive yet again. Zavala, noting this sudden focus, jumped right in.

"Clearly it's too dangerous to send just the Hunters out to gather intelligence. Capable as they are, the weapons the Hive have are too dangerous for any one person to go alone. Therefore I'm ordering that all Guardians travel in fireteams of seven."

That, I noted in surpise, was unheard of. The largest teams were usually groups of six only. The last time fireteams of more than six had been ordered, it had been to defend the walls from an onslaught of Fallen centuries ago.

"These teams," Zavala was still saying, "will consist of whatever class you want the seventh to be, but must have two Hunters, two Titans, at least one of them a Defender, and two Warlocks, at least one of which must be a Sunsinger. Ideally the team would have two Sunsingers."

Spearhead looked at each other. They had their team set up almost perfectly. Zack seemed disappointed slightly, which I could understand. He would tap into his Sunsinger abilities to help the team, but Voidwalker was his calling. I'd feel like a limb of mine was lost if I had to tap into anything but the void.

"Cass will join us then. We need someone to fill our scouting shoes after all and who better to do so than a Nightstalker?"

Sasha's cheery voice had me whip around to face her again. My shock must have shown on my face, because the other Hunter gave me a small, amused smile.

"It makes the most sense," she explained. "We've already worked together once, and you also worked with our illustrious Warlocks. You at least have a base idea of how we work. Plus, I like you. You don't fawn over Nate."

The Bladedancer immediately let out a noise of protest that I barely comprehended in the face of Sasha's decision. Spearhead now needed a seventh person to join them, and her first choice was me. It was completely insane. A moment too good to be true. I hadn't even dreamed last week that I'd get to work with anybody from Spearhead, let alone join their fireteam. But here Sasha was in the flesh, offering me the chance to join their ranks.

I felt like I needed to pinch myself to see if all this was actually some crazy dream.

But my Ghost was prodding me mentally to answer, so I squared my stance and nodded, though I was quivering with pride.

"I'd be happy to join Spearhead for the duration of this mission, Guardian Carrington," I said formally, earning an amused snort from the other woman. But she smiled and offered her hand nonetheless, just as she had on the highway where we had met.

"Welcome aboard, Guardian Drake."

* * *

Things moved quickly in the meeting after that. Now that it was decided that Guardians were to travel in such large numbers, Spearhead wasted no time in gathering together in their own personal bunkhouse. I felt a little out of place in the common room they had, especially as they all began taking seats. From the familiarity in which they did so, this was clearly a practiced event. Not wanting to make waves, I took a place leaning against the wall. Nate, catching the movement of discomfort, patted his leg.

"Always a spot free on my lap for you, Cass," he said with a bright, inviting grin. I offered a polite smile back but shook my head, feeling a blush heat my cheeks. His grin widened before he turned around to face the door, where Sasha herself emerged after a couple of seconds. The other Hunter was garbed entirely in her armor, even her helmet. Her cloak was dancing around her legs as she walked, but stopped as she took a place at the head of the group. Here, I noticed, the atmosphere was much more relaxed than the meeting with the Vanguards. Not everyone had kept their armor on. Jesse and Felix, for example, had opted to swap to more comfortable loungewear of gray sweats and solid white t-shirts. Maria had followed suit to get comfortable in sweats, but Zack, Nate, Sasha, and myself had opted to keep our armor on.

"Today is a big step for Spearhead," Sasha began, placing a hand on the holster of her Hawkmoon. "We have yet another new member to welcome. We haven't had a welcome party since Nate came to us," she noted with some mild amusement before sobering.

"But we have to remember that Cass being here is a result of the Hive stirring up trouble. We've beat them down twice before, Spearhead. You can be damned sure we can do it a third time. And once we find this Wizard, we're going to kill her and mount her head over our mantelpiece. How does that sound?!"

Both Titans gave a whoop of glee that Nate echoed. Zack, too quiet to do more than grin widely in agreement, nodded, while his twin was shaking his head in mild amusement. I wasn't sure how to express my feelings - awe being the reigning one - so I stayed quiet, a small smile of agreement that mirrored Zack's.

"Yeah, I thought you'd all like that," Sasha continued with a chuckle. "Of course we also have one more duty to perform, Spearhead: bestowing the new member with her own room, hand decorated by us I might add," she said as she turned to me. "Ready to see where you'll be staying in the bunkhouse?"

I felt my smile grow a bit more forced. I was beyond flattered that they'd already gone to the trouble of prepping a room for me. But my house in the City was my sanctuary. It made me feel like I didn't have the world's responsibilities on my shoulders. It was more of a home than anywhere else was, even moreso than the wilds outside of the City. Most importantly, I didn't have to deal with Tower politics or the ever present possibility of running into Caleb. But still, Spearhead had gone through all the trouble for me. I owed it to them to at least see what they had in store for me, and maybe make an effort to stay in the room a night a week. Maybe two nights a week tops.

"Sure," I answered back with what I hoped was bright eagerness. "Lead the way."

Sasha didn't hesitate another second before doing just that, spinning on her heels and walking down the corridor leading to their rooms with ground eating strides. The rest of us followed in her wake, excited jabbering taking place around me as the team meshed together. As for me, I still felt out of place. But that feeling abated slightly as Sasha stopped in front of a door and beckoned me forward. The legendary Hunter slid the door open, and I peeked inside, my jaw dropping almost instantly. The floor was a lighter shade of gray. It was just as basic as the one at my house. The walls and ceiling, however, were the color of the void; a purple so dark that it was almost black. A representation of my own talents. The urge to summon my bow was strong as I looked around. The furnishings were fairly simple. A single bed was against the right wall, hugging the doorframe and offering an ample view of the rest of the room. A door leading to what I thought must be the bathroom was on the left side, and a small kitchen was on the opposite side of the wall. There were two armchairs and a holo table that took up the middle of the room, likely to allow people to watch in-progress Crucible matches or Sparrow Races. A closet was to the left of the kitchen that had sliding doors, and I wondered how big it was.

I didn't get a real view of decorations until I walked in.

Simple shelves lined the left wall. A small painting of the Traveler was propped up on one of them. But by far, what struck me most was what I saw over the bed. Spearhead's own version of the Wolfpack emblem, the same wolf that adorned their Strength of the Pack cloaks, but colored a stark white instead of the gold on the cloak. On its cheek was a simple, multicolored 'S,' clearly standing for their fireteam name. The 'S' was orange, blue, and purple, a color for each element, coming together to form one letter. By a lot of standards it could be considered tacky, but it just seemed so _them_. I could just picture Sasha laughing as she threw out the idea to the team, and it was just so out there that they agreed to it. But then that was what Spearhead was: the unlikely miracle workers. The slayers of gods. Another detail caught my mind. Each member had, in some way, signed the wolf, be it by their own different symbols.

"The two Void symbols in a yin and yang together... Zack," I identified. "Maria, the shield is yours. Felix, yours is the flaming fist. Nate, you would go with a heart with an arc blade through it-"

"I thought it was brilliant!" He interrupted as I listed it off, looking all-too-pleased with himself. Sasha did the honors of smacking the back of his head.

"Too obvious, you big flirt," she chastised with a reluctant smirk. The other Hunter snorted, rubbing the impact sight as he pointed at the wall.

"Yeah, because your moon with wings doesn't scream 'Sasha,'" he retorted, pointing to her design. The gun was an artful representation of her Hawkmoon, a full moon with a striking hawk inside of it. A smile danced across my lips. Sasha had been almost as obvious as Nate, but even I had to admit that Nate didn't lack for effort at least. Counting the symbols up, I realized quickly that Jesse's was unaccounted for. Sasha was even faster to realize this as she turned to the Warlock and threw her hands on her hips.

"We were _all_ supposed to paint something, Fenway."

I turned in time to see the Sunsinger shrug, his expression devoid of pretty much anything save for his usual scowl.

"I didn't know what to put down."

Groaning at the excuse, the fireteam leader shook her head, turning to me.

"Well aside from that disappointing discovery, what do you think?"

I cast a final look around. They'd done all of this for me. The decorating, the furnishing, the entire room spoke to just how close they were as a unit, and how much they wanted to welcome me. I wasn't sure I was worth all of that. Not yet at least. But she was expecting an answer.

"It's beautiful," I answered truthfully, taking a seat on the bed and further taking everything in. The response seemed to satisfy the Gunslinger, and she motioned to the door.

"Come on Spearhead, let's let Cass enjoy her space for a bit. We'll regroup later."

Most of them walked out without complaint, casting 'welcomes' and 'see you laters' over their shoulders. I shot a puzzled look to Sasha, briefly snapped from my reverence of the room.

"What are we regrouping for?"

The smile she gave was far too gleeful for the answer to be innocent.

"We're going to go hunting of course."

And to think I'd expected a quiet evening.

 _ **A/N; Heh, forgot the author's note the first time xD In any case, I am so pleased to hear you've been hooked, Jayfeather. I hope that I continue to keep you enthralled as the story progresses. As for predictions... well we shall see who is who down the road, shall we?**_


	5. Chapter 5: The Hunt

**_A/N; I am so so sorry for the wait on this! As I was writing this, the holidays were picking up where I work, and that has lead to a lot of stress. Thankfully, retail's version of Hell is over for a bit, so I was able to sit down and finally hammer out this bad boy in a few days. I made it extra long too to try and make up for the wait. As always, I hope you all enjoy it!_**

 _Chapter Five: The Hunt_

* * *

 _All Guardians feel fear; at least the good ones. The ones that don't usually end up dead. There's a reason why only a select few live past their tenth year as a warrior for the Light. -Anonymous_

* * *

"Nate, I need that Arc Blade of yours up right now!"

"I don't have the Light I need yet! Twenty seconds tops!"

"Damn it! Zack, where's your Nova Bomb?"

"Not enough Light, Sasha."

The exchange was one of several that had gone through the comms in the past several minutes since a veritable horde of Hive had shown up. Sasha had wanted to reinvestigate Crota's sanctum since it was where the Hive matron had taken such offense to Guardians being. The place had been dead on my trip through, but now with the entire fireteam present, the ugly creatures had suddenly decided to come out in droves. We rapidly found out that, while Thralls didn't have guns, their talons were covered in the same sickly green color of the wounds I'd received. From then on, Thralls were the first ones to go down, followed rapidly by any Knights wanting to drop into a melee, and then the rest of the Hive. Even Wizards were taking a backseat to their subordinates now, which was ludicrous. At least they weren't summoning shadowed Thralls anymore with the Taken subdued.

Not that it mattered much to be thinking about that while huddled behind some rocks. Felix, his bulky armor beside me, was leaning out to take down a small group of Thralls that had been continuously trying to force us out of cover. He plastered himself back behind cover as Acolytes returned fire. The Sunbreaker had yet to use the most dangerous weapon in his arsenal of weapons: the Gjallarhorn. I had seen him use it before in several Crucible matches. The rocket launcher itself was a piece of art; forged from the armor of several fallen Titans after the Battle of Twilight Gap. But what made the Gjallarhorn truly amazing was the shells it fired. Upon detonation they split into multiple homing explosives, seeking out more enemies to destroy. It made crowd control that much easier, as well as dealing with larger threats efficiently. However Sasha had ordered us all from the beginning to leave our heaviest weapons in reserve unless we needed them direly. Judging from Sasha's lack of an order, this situation did not count as being dire. What perplexed me was why she was requesting our super abilities as opposed to our weapons. We all had syntheses at will; surely that made our heavy ammo less valuable?

But it wasn't my place to question how she led. The rest of Spearhead obviously trusted her, and I wasn't about to disobey the fireteam leader. So instead I leaned out on the other side of the rock and fired off a couple of rounds, adding my own gunfire to the cacophony already present. With each enemy that went down, another seemed to take its place. Just went I thought I was going to have to have Ghost grab me a synthesis, movement from Sasha caught my eye. The Gunslinger had clearly had enough. With a loud crack, a revolver of flame materialized in her hand, flames licking her figure. In the oppressing dark of the Pit of the Moon, she became a beacon of light, and there was no mercy to be seen in her movements. She turned the corner and fired one shot, reducing one Acolyte to ash and causing an explosion that took out two more. Her second shot found a group of Thrall shrieking and running towards Jesse and Maria's group. The explosion tore them apart and reduced them to smoking chitin. Sasha's last two shots found a Knight. I was shocked as he practically ate the first fiery bolt, but the second one reduced him to cinders. Unconsciously, Spearhead had rallied to provide her covering fire when she stepped around her rock. These Guardians had been through enough trials that they had a system and an unconscious instinct of how to work together. It filled me with a new level of respect - and worry. I had a lot to live up to.

Sasha's display with her Golden Gun seemed to break the backs of the Hive. With fading screams and howls, the remaining resistance fell back into the shadows. The gun disintegrated from her hands and Sasha breathed out a long breath of relief.

"Status, team?"

Everyone gave her the green light, much to her continued relief and my own. Just one bullet wound had been taxing enough on Jesse. An entire fireteam to heal was going to strain his Light to its absolute limit if it came down to that. His brother, I knew, would help out when it was needed. When the Hive had started rushing us in large numbers, Sasha had had him and his Ghost focus on his Void abilities. All Guardians had an affinity with all of the different specialties of our classes. However all Guardians also had a special link with one of the specialties in particular. That link made it easier to call upon the abilities of that element. Sunsinger abilities would be harder for Zack to channel, whereas Jesse would be able to do it with more ease. Regardless, we were unharmed for the moment at least.

"Let's get going, Spearhead. It's a long trek to the bridge, and this time we won't have lamps to guide us."

Our Ghosts materialized to guide or ways, seven beams of light slicing through the darkness. The echoing of Hive far off still lingered, sending my senses into overdrive. Like before, the entire place felt wrong. However, it had felt like that Darkness was abating when I went down. Now it felt like the power of it was creeping back up. It wasn't near enough to drain the Light we had or stop us from harnessing that power, but it was enough that it felt like it would be more difficult to use our abilities.

"Sasha, remember when we went down into the Dreadnaught's dungeon to fight the Darkblade?" Jesse questioned with a clear grimace.

"Clear as day. You and Felix wouldn't shut up about Sparrow Racing."

Maria and Nate shared a snicker at Sasha's recap, while I could just tell that Jesse was glaring at the three of them, despite the helmet hiding his expression.

"Putting that aside, the atmosphere here is just like it was down there. It's harder for Raven to regenerate my grenades. And it's not as easy for me to summon my flames either. We should use our abilities sparingly."

So I wasn't the only one having a hard time with my equipment then. Ghost had been straining to replenish both my smoke bombs and my Voidwall grenade the entire fight. Perhaps it wasn't so strange for me to think using our heavy weapons would be a wise move first if it got tough, as opposed to throwing around our supers off the bat. Though Sasha was clearly trying to hide it, the Darkness around us had taken more of a toll for using her Golden Gun than she was letting on if the slight droop of her posture was any hint. The fireteam leader fell silent for a moment before nodding.

"Yeah, I can feel it too. We'll switch up our strategy. Heavy weapons at the ready then. Felix, I want you to save your ammo until we really need it. I only want one heavy weapon to open up at a time. Cass, your gun will be our first wave. Then we'll have Nate, Maria, Zack, myself, and Jesse use ours in that order when you run dry, and only when the situations calls for it. Felix, I'll tell you when I want you to bring out your Gjallarhorn. Now let's move," she repeated, taking point as she reloaded her Hawkmoon with a flourish. The rest of us followed along and fell into formation. Both Jesse and Zack were in the middle with Felix and Maria on either side of them. That left Nate and I to take the rear. The piles of Hive blood and bodies did nothing to sooth my growing anxiety. When I'd been here, the place had been nearly dead. Though there were still Hive present in the depths, they were scattered and unorganized. A threat to be sure, but not one as cohesive and oppressing as it was now.

The rest of the team was silent as we made our ways along the path. The only reason I could tell they were uneasy was the tightening of muscles when a long howl sounded in the dark. With how big the chamber was, the sound could have come from anywhere. Yet nothing disturbed us on our trek, a fact that became more and more troubling. The Hive knew we were here. Their matron probably knew we were here. Yet aside from the welcoming committee, there wasn't anything to stop us. From the uneasy noise Maria made, it was clear the Titan was having similar thoughts.

"This isn't right. We should be up to our necks in Hive right now, but there's nothing here."

Sasha held up a fist to halt the group, turning almost at once to look at me.

"Cass, let's get a lay of the land. This hill is the final stretch before we hit the bridge. It would be the perfect place for an ambush, and they have the high ground. Take Zack with you. If you get into trouble, he can at least stop them with a Nova Bomb. You have the light for it now, Zack?" A short nod was her response, and she continued immediately after, "only use the bomb if you feel you have no other choice. Since it's harder for us to harness our Light down here, we'll have to use it sparingly. I have a feeling that's only going to get worse the further in we go. For now, we'll focus on the immediate threat. Get going you two."

"Watch your back, Zack," Jesse added in, the comment betraying his own concern. Zack had to be smiling as he nudged his brother and nodded before the pair of us began up the hill. When we were about halfway up the pit-filled path, I halted Zack as I pulled a smoke bomb from my pocket. My Ghost immediately knew that I meant to use it for camouflage and adjusted it accordingly. While the poison was great at getting enemies out from cover, it was not the most beneficial setting to be using poison in at the moment. Without another thought I tossed it at the ground, enveloping the both of us in cloaking nanites. Near invisible now, we made our way up to the hill to the a rock that had a view on the last two lamps. Like Sasha had predicted, a small army of Hive awaited the seven of us. This time, however, there were two Wizards. Both commanded ten Thralls a piece, eight Acolytes, and two Knights acted as backups. Two of the Knights had swords, and I almost felt the burning from their swords cut through my chest piece yet again. The other two had Arc Canons, which made them, arguably, the bigger threats. A dark frown tugged at my lips. This was going to turn into a mess.

We retreated down the hill in silence, our invisibility running out seconds after we backed away from the top of the hill. The group was where we had left them, waiting in tense silence for our report.

"Ambush," I offered as Sasha came into hearing range. "Lots of Hive up top, including two Wizards this time. What do you want to do?"

The fireteam leader hummed in thought.

"Do you have your Shadowshot prepared, Cass?"

I nodded as an answer and she chuckled gleefully before motioning to Felix.

"Ladies and gentlemen, here's what we're doing. We need to break back into Crota's lair sooner rather than later. We don't have time to continuously get into prolonged firefights. So while we cover you, Cass, you're going to use that Shadowshot of yours to tether as many of the ugly bastards as you can. When you do that, Felix, you're going to pull out that lovely Gjallarhorn of yours and put the trapped ones down while we focus on the ones not tied down. Should take less than a minute. Let's do this!"

Once again her strategy had changed. The doctrine for combat she'd laid down had changed twice, and I was beginning to think she liked improvisation rather than a solid plan. I wasn't sure if I was comfortable with that. I knew for a fact my Ghost wasn't a fan of the plan since I would literally be hanging out in the open air like a piñata. But everyone else was readying their weapons. Nobody spoke up against the idea. Taking that as confidence, I took a deep breath and readied myself, feeling the hum of power rippling through my body as my Light responded to the tugs on its threads.

A second later, I was running up the hill.

Spearhead was at my back, their pounding footfalls giving me a measure of comfort. At the crest of the hill, I leapt up with two hops, expending a bit of Light for that extra height. At once I felt that power explode within me as I summoned my Void Bow. Twisting the ninety degrees to catch sight of the large group, I pulled the string back and sighted my target: the wizard furthest from our group. I released the arrow, already channeling it to create the largest possible radius to catch as many of the ugly brutes as I could. The Wizard flinched back as the shot impacted, releasing Void energy that tethered the Wizard, the Thralls, and a couple of Acolytes. Fire immediately began screaming in my direction, echoing with the enraged chattering of the Hive. Luckily I wasn't in the air for too much longer; gravity had taken hold as soon as my shot had gone off. Thankfully, my landing had me positioned behind a rock large enough to provide me with decent cover.

Of course, I didn't have to take cover for long. While fire still peppered my position, Felix leapt up, the Gjallarhorn in his hand glinting proudly in what little light we had, and a single rocket left the tube. The initial impact was catastrophic. The tether already weakened the physical defenses of anything I managed to hook. Add a rocket to the mix and it ended up being complete carnage. The thralls exploded into piles of chitin and goo. The acolytes followed suit. The wizard managed to escape the impact, but it didn't escape the Wolfpack Rounds that came screaming out of the warhead. Just as their name suggested, they honed in on the injured Hive Wizard like a pack, the screams of it fading as the final projectile reduced it to the same state of decay as its companions. Around me, the rest of Spearhead surged to cover, guns going off. Sasha's handcannon was easy to distinguish as heads exploded. Jesse and his brother had moved to a rock together, the rhythmic firing of the Red Death creating a beat all on its own alongside Zack's Last Word. Maria and Nate were working in tandem. The cracks of his sniper rifle were punctuated with bursts from her Clever Dragon pulse rifle, forcing enemies into cover while he reloaded. Felix had joined me and pulled out his own handcannon, The Devil You Know.

As for me, I took out my trusty Gheleon's Demise and started shooting. I rapidly discovered that the Firefly modification was a huge help for such a large amount of enemies. Especially as I capped an Acolyte that was more accurate than I was comfortable with. The ensuing explosion also damaged one of the sword-wielding Knights. The hard outer shell it had clearly had cracks, and as he and his companion were a mere ten feet from us, they quickly become our main targets.

"Take those Knights down!" Sasha ordered over the team channel. "Nate and Cass, put those Boomers down!"

Indeed, the Knights with the cannons had been pounding our cover from the start. They hadn't been as big of a problem until their melee compatriots came to try and force us from cover. Emphasis on _try_. While Nate already had been using his own new sniper rifle and switched targets with barely a second thought, I had to take the time to allow mine to materialize in my hand. Another treasure from the Iron Banner, Efrideet's Spear had been a reward during one match for coming out on top of all the Guardians present. It had been one of my proudest moments in the Crucible. Dropping on my stomach amid the chaos beyond my cover, I scooted to the side far enough to be able to see the Boomer. Despite the sword Knight being ripped to shreds by bullets, the Boomer was still out in the open to try and catch one of us in the blast radius. Unfortunately for him, it was the last action he was able to take. I lined up my shot and let the first bullet go, forcing him to flinch back, clutching at the gaping hole in its chest. It still stood, but a second shot to head changed that.

"My Boomer is down!" I reported, rolling back next to Felix as renewed fire peppered my position. Nate was next over the comms with his own report.

"As is mine. One shot one kill," he said smugly. I could imagine him blowing on the smoking barrel of his rifle.

"Alright, all Knights are down and Wizard Number Two," there was a burst of fire from Jesse's position as he spoke, and the Wizard disintegrated, "is down. Just a few Acolytes left now."

I hadn't noticed before, but with the Boomers and the Wizards gone, the volume of the Pit had reduced dramatically. Within thirty seconds, all was quiet save for the sound of us reloading. Sasha made her way over to the bridge that led into Crota's realm, now apart of the physical world with his death. The other Hunter flipped her weapon into the holster on her thigh and motioned for us to join her. We made our way over to her, guns still held relatively loosely in case something else decided to jump us. Taking a quick look over the team, no one seemed worse for wear. The worst anyone had it was a couple grazes across armor, and their Ghosts were repairing those anyway. Not even Zack and Jesse, who had the least amount of armor, weren't sporting singed robes. It was a good start to the operation.

"Now comes the hard part, Spearhead. Let's stay focused and make it to Crota's sanctum. We'll do some investigating and be home in time to watch the first Sparrow Races go off for the season," she said, reminding all of us about the celebrations for The Dawning that would begin at midnight. Another reason to make it back in one piece. The Dawning wasn't a time for mourning.

Sasha took the lead as she walked across the bridge. She raised her finger in a kind of 'oh yeah' motion and turned around, but kept walking backwards.

"By the way, nice job back there team. Nothing more satisfying than turning even more Hive into gelatin. Or ash, if you're Jesse, Felix, or myself."

The acknowledged Warlock snorted in mild amusement, but didn't protest, earning a brotherly shove from Felix. The brief period of relaxation passed as we finally made it to the end of the bridge. Swallowed up into the light, we emerged outside the door that lead to the next bridge. While it had been up and solid when I last came through here, now the bridge had disappeared. From Spearhead's reports, I knew getting it up again would be no easy feat. What made it more difficult was the Hive congregating below, stalking around pillars and rocks with an occasional growl, or screech in the case of the Thralls. Unlike with the run through the lamps, this was going to be much more challenging. There would be nearly no cover for all of us to hide behind that would allow us to stem the tide of Hive from other entrances or from the opposite side of the ravine. Worse still, staying in one place didn't seem to be an option, but it was going to be a necessary evil. The two pylons on either side of the center circle had to be triggered so the power surge to bring the bridge up wouldn't kill us all in the process. As it was, judging from Sasha's tapping on her thigh, she was thinking of how to go about the playing field too. The only advantages I could see were us having the high ground, and the element of surprise.

"Cass."

My name had me snap to attention. Sasha had turned to me slightly.

"When we first met, you told me your smoke bomb had nanites in it that could give us brief invisibility. I don't want us to all be up here just waiting for a Boomer to blow us to bits, so here's what we're going to do. When you trigger your smoke bomb, I want you and Zack to stay here. He'll watch your back while you snipe. Jesse will do the same for Nate on the opposite balcony. You boys will have to run fast to make it before that invisibility runs off," she warned with a glance at the two men before continuing.

"As for Maria, Felix, and myself, we'll jump down and hide beneath the staircase. Nate, you and Cass will take the first shots. As soon as we hear you start shooting, we'll join in. Once we clear the company here, we'll start getting the bridge up. At that point, Cass and Nate, I want you two on the rocks overlooking the entire area. You should be small enough targets if you really hug the rock."

"Only one I want to hug right now is you, Sasha," Nate cut in with an implied wink.

"Tell you what, Nate. I'll hug you when Hell freezes over and the Darkness is defeated," Sasha replied sweetly. "As for the rest of us, we're on the ground. Zack, I want you and Maria on the right pylon. Jesse, you and Felix will take the left one. I'll take the center. When the bridge is up and we take the Swordbearers out, I want Nate and Cass to move across first so they can cover us with their snipers. Then I want you to go across with them, Felix, and then we'll get you across afterwards, Zack. Then you four will activate the plate and pylons and get the rest of us across. Questions?"

None of us had any. We were ready. Of everything we'd faced so far, which admittedly wasn't much, this was going to be the most dangerous scenario so far. I couldn't even imagine what would lie in Crota's Sanctum.

"Ok then. Cass, hit us with that bomb."

I gave them a second to get into position before pulling the smoke bomb from my belt and smashing it on the ground. A msit billowed up from the impact, and at once, we were wraiths. Nate and Jesse sprinted from our position like jackrabbits, nothing but shimmering forms as they barreled down and up stairs. Maria, Felix, and Sasha leapt over the balcony, none of them using an extra burst of light to slow their descents if the ground out curses were a clue. As for Zack and I, we prowled out and laid prone just as that camouflage wore off. The barrel of my rifle barely went over the lip of the ledge.

"Ok, Nightstalker. Let's see how good your sniping is. Looks like a bunch of Acolytes, nothing too big. Pick a target and let's hit 'em hard," Nate encouraged from his post. A target flared red on my visor. He'd chosen his mark. I chose my own, steadying my breathing to take the shot.

"Three... Two... One... Now!"

At Nate's command, I fired off my own shot, not even a second behind his own. Both of the Acolytes exploded into dust, and they hadn't even fully settled on the ground before the rest of the Hive - around ten Acolytes - took cover and began firing towards our positions. The slaughter truly began when the rest of the fireteam revealed themselves and added their own guns to the fight. From beside me, Zack crawled forward and took down two of the Hive foot soldiers down with almost supernatural speed. As fast as the fight began, it had ended. As planned, we left our perches to join Sasha and the Titans. Maria and Felix had taken their positions on the pylons, and Zack and Jesse went to join them. Sasha gave a nod to Nate and myself, but motioned us to stay put.

"Nate, I want you to cross first. Your camouflage should keep you out of sight while Cass crosses. When Felix gets across, you three will get most of the attention. Once we get Zack across, I want you guys to split up and activate the pylons on your side. Felix will take the plate to keep the bridge active so Maria, Jesse, and I can cross. Get to your perches. Nate, when you see the Swordbearer drop, get ready to go."

We responded with an affirmative and moved to our positions. I had just lain down and scoped in on the door beneath our entrance when Sasha triggered the center plate. Then the screeching began. We had prioritized the same enemies now as we had during our first engagement: Thralls went down first, followed by Knights, before we dealt with Wizards and Acolytes. The strategy served us well, and soon Nate, Felix, and myself were across the were now pouring out on both sides of the gorge, and we soon had to let Sasha and the others fend for themselves as we focused on our own problems.

Knights had entered the field with Acolytes and a horde of Thralls. It took every bit of skill and experience we had to keep out of their reach to kill them, and even then, Nate had been forced to use his Arc Blade to give us some breathing room. It quickly became apparent as Zack finally got across to join us, his Obsidian Mind flashing in the sickly light, that the opposition on the opposite side was drying up. When seven guns were turned on our side, I knew it was our turn to get the pylons up. I glanced to my right and saw Nate next to that pylon. With my decision made for me, I made my way left, allowing Zack to help Felix defend the center plate. On my own, I felt a calm determination to survive settle in me. Self-assured, self-reliant, I had always fought my hardest while alone in sticky situations. What was more, I could feel that my Light was nearly strong enough for me to use my Void Bow again.

For the moment, I settled for a quick weapon switch. I replaced my sniper for my Matador shotgun, a small grin on my face at the weight of the weapon. After using a synthesis to replenish my ammo, I cocked the gun and unleashed myself upon the Hive. I ran headfirst into a melee, encouraging the minions of the Darkness to take a swipe at me with their sickly claws, only to dance out of their reach and retaliate with my knife or shotgun. I threw down a smoke bomb on a group of three Thralls rushing me, not bothering to keep an eye on them as the poison in the smoke ate at them until there was nothing but bones left. An Acolyte that slipped past my guard raked a claw down my back, causing warning alarms to blare in my helmet as my armor warned of an imminent breach should anything hit me. Thankfully, I managed to blow it's head off and slip behind the pylon as fire began sailing towards my position. Within seconds, the alarms for my armor had quieted.

 _Thanks, Ghost._

 _It's what I'm here for._

The undercurrent of pride in that thought had another smile briefly touch my face before I focused back in on the fight. The bridge was still up thanks to our efforts. A quick glance back revealed Maria, Sasha, and Jesse had finally finished off all of the opposition on their side. They were moving to help us and cross the bridge just as Felix bellowed out a warning.

"OGRES!"

Both he and Zack took off for cover as twin beams of Void energy sliced through the air where they'd been before. As soon as they left the plate, the bridge began to disintegrate. All three of the Guardians on the bridge increased their speed. Sasha and Maria had no problems clearing the gap with their jumps. Jesse, however, clearly didn't have the same fortune. His momentum gave out just short of the ledge. Instead of landing and rolling as his two companions had, the Warlock slammed into the side of the wall, his gloves barely catching the edge.

"Shit," I heard Sasha hiss as she whipped around to see Jesse's predicament. But she was forced to take cover as an Ogre focused its fire on her. I could hear her order Nate to get his Ghost to activate his camouflage, but it would take precious seconds to calibrate. Seconds I didn't think Jesse actually had. _Thank the Traveler for smoke bombs._ My own Ghost knew what I was doing and swapped the abilities of the smoke just as I launched it at the ground. I didn't need to look at my hands to know I was practically invisible. I leapt over a rock and practically barreled over Zack as I launched myself for Jesse's hand, my armor skidding painfully on the stone. But the maneuver paid off as I grabbed his wrist, his fingers shooting around my own as his grab on the ground was ripped away.

"Drake, what the hell are you doing?" He growled out. "I'm a Sunsinger, in case you've already forgotten."

"Wasting your Light on a useless revival won't help anybody if we get injured or you get killed later!" I argued hotly as I tugged him up. The seconds it took to get the Warlock to his feet proved to be too long for my nanites. I knew my camouflage was gone when the ground around me began to get eaten at by fire directed towards Jesse and I. The Sunsinger had clearly decided to just follow my lead as I slid to cover by a pillar that was far too close to the edge for comfort. It barely allowed enough space for the two of us to stay relatively safe. Still, while hauling Jesse up had been a bonus, we still had two Ogres and a large amount of Hive to deal with. An idea struck me.

"Sasha, do you have your Golden Gun?!"

It took a second for the other Hunter to respond, but I could see her crouch down next to Nate and Maria in order to answer.

"Yeah, why?"

"Tethered targets take amplified damage. Want to see how fast we can fry these Ogres?"

I could practically _feel_ the Spearhead leader grinning as she slung her pistol in its holster and flashed me a thumbs up.

"I'll go when you go."

I didn't waste another second waiting to see if one of the Ogres would get a lucky shot on my companions. I rushed from beside Jesse and leapt in the air, summoning my bow for the second time of the day. An arrow materialized on the string, and I took aim at the left Ogre first. The first arrow nailed him to the ground, and that's when I heard the crash of flame signifying Sasha's entry into the fray. Revolver in hand, she took aim at the tethered Ogre. All it took was two shots for the monstrous Hive to disintegrate into flame and shadow. My second shot hit the other Ogre, and the third found a group of enemies that was harassing Felix and Zack.

Sasha finished off the second Ogre with another hop in the air, but we both landed in the open amid fire from plenty of Acolytes. Luckily, the rest of Spearhead had our backs. Renewed gunfire erupted from our side and the shrieks of dying Hive followed. Sasha and I broke for cover. Now she ended up with Jesse, and I was behind the pillar with Nate and Maria. Soon enough, we'd whittled away the rest of the Hive. I placed an armor piercing round in the chest of one last Acolyte, feeling sweaty beneath my armor. That fight had been more of a challenge than I'd originally thought. There had been far too many close calls. Worst part being that we weren't even at the Sanctum yet. Still, we had yet to actually have any injuries, which was a testament to just how skilled Spearhead was. From what I'd seen, Jesse's near-fall had been the worst thing to happen.

After Jesse gave us all a quick once-over to confirm that no one actually had any injuries, we continued through the large door that would lead to where I'd encountered the Matron for the second time. Truth be told, I was not looking forward to it. There was no way out of the hole we'd jump into unless we could transmat out. I already assumed that our transmat would be blocked the second we entered Crota's former lair. No doubt the Warlocks had explained what had happened after we'd gotten back beforehand. From the way the team stalked ahead - purposeful, unyielding - I doubted they cared for the danger. They had a job to do, and nothing was going to stop them from accomplishing it. So I did my best to walk along with them, keeping my eyes trained on our rear for any nasty surprised the Pit of the Moon wanted to throw at us. Maria was beside me, her pulse rifle glinting under the sickening lights the Hive seemed so fond of. By the time we arrived at the hole leading down into the Sanctum, everyone seemed to be on high alert. The tension sure wasn't helped as Sasha began pacing at the lip of the edge, clearly thinking. The time we spent just standing there allowed my own thoughts to roam, and nowhere good.

We had no idea what to expect down here.

 _You're as prepared as you're going to be_ , my Ghost assured me. _Just focus on getting home._

He was right, as usual. And even if I didn't believe him, there was no more time to devote to an argument, as Sasha motioned us down the hole and pulled Hawkmoon from its holster. We leapt down as a group, the disgusting sludge beneath our boots splashing on our armor as we landed. I released a huff of disgust, and Maria tilted her head towards me.

"I know, this place is filthy. When we get back to town, we'll have to go shopping for armor and polish, you and I. Get a little girl time in," she offered, her voice friendly and casual despite the setting. Sasha looked back briefly with a small chuckle.

"I better be included in that girl time," she said teasingly before snapping her attention back to the entrance. From the sudden stiffening of her limbs, I wondered if she had seen something. It wouldn't be surprising if some nasty beast was waiting out there to greet us. Indeed, there was a shriek of laughter and a Hive Wizard materialized in front of us. She didn't have the same ornamental look that the Matron did, but she was no ordinary Wizard either. The horns on her head were more akin to a shield than horns, a flat expanse of chitin that, were humor called for in the situation, I would have joked about her being a bonehead. Instead, I did what everyone else had done and took cover as she flung out globs of what looked to be Solar energy before cackling again and disappearing. A symphony of Hive cries and growls followed as she disappeared.

"I don't know who this bitch is, but she's not getting out of here alive."

Sasha's growl wasn't a reassurance. It was a promise. And it was filled with such conviction that I fully understood why Spearhead followed her so faithfully. She could probably rattle the galaxy if she wanted to. She had already slayed gods; what were a few planets?

I shoved aside my awe as the Hunter sprinted forward, her cape billowing behind her. Felix was on her heels, hefting his Gjallarhorn for what I assumed was going to be our opening salvo.

"Pair up!" Sasha ordered, breaking right as soon as we cleared the giant, arching doorway. Spearhead had clearly done this dozens of times as they wordlessly went with partners. Maria went with Sasha, Felix went with Zack, and Nate went with Jesse. This left me alone, but I didn't mind much. Depending on myself was what I was more comfortable with anyway. Felix and Zack had gone up top to help Maria and Sasha, the four Guardians drawing fire from almost all angles. Nate and Jesse were handling the structure up top, making sure nothing came out to flank either team outside. As for me, there were plenty of Thralls to keep me occupied down on the first floor. Trading my scout rifle for my shotgun, I unleashed myself upon the Hive. My Voidwall grenade went out first, slicing a burning path in the midst of a group of eight Thralls that were rushing from my right. Three went down writhing in purple flames. The others screeched and moved to avoid it, a temporary fear that allowed me to deal with the four thralls rushing from my left. With no hesitation, I ran for them to put some distance between myself and the five Thralls now at my back. Hungry howls erupted from the group of four, and my weapon sang. One shot punched through the stomach of one Thrall, sending it to the ground. My knife slid effortlessly against the neck of another, noxious black blood staining my armor as it sprayed out. A vicious claw raked down my side, enough to damage the armor, but not to pierce it. A shell blasted through its face, and left me time to spin and deal with the six remaining threats. Ghost didn't need me to tell him that I now wanted my poisonous smoke. I smashed it at my feet just as the beasts lunged. One was killed instantaneously, and all but two others collapsed from the lethal venom my bomb had emitted. Before I could deal with them, I heard my name, a loud shout over the chaos that had enveloped the Sanctum. Zack and Felix had four Knights rushing their position; Felix had been the one to call for me. Ignoring the Thralls behind me for the moment, I charged to where the two men were raining fire down. One Knight fell under their onslaught, but the other three were still standing.

Ghost had repaired my armor by the time I was at the back of the first Knight. The first pump of my shotgun caused cracks to appear in the back of his head. Before I could pump another shot into his head, he caught me with a powerful side swipe that sent me flying back into the bottom of the tower. The two Thralls I had ignored were the first in the door ahead of the Knight, but one fell thanks to a well-placed sniper round through the back of the head. _Thank the Traveler for Nate._ The brief respite gave me the time to get to my feet and end the other one with another shell, just as Ghost began repairing the breaches in my armor the first swing from the Knight had caused. If the Knight hit me again before he was done, I'd be looking at another ticket to the medical bay of the Tower. So I played chicken and backed away towards the door as he stomped towards me. Nate's attention was clearly on the two Knights pursuing Felix and Zack now as a bullet penetrated through the skull of a Knight behind my own target. I was all on my own for this one. I waited until he was about to swing before I warped into mist and shadow, dodging to the right just as the Knight's sword cracked into the floor where I'd been a second before. I brought my shotgun off and fired two more rounds into it. My reward was the sight of it crumbling into chitin pieces and black blood. Breathing hard from adrenalin, I noticed that the rabble outside was down to a level far below what we'd started with.

A fact especially true when Sasha gave the command to focus fire on the Wizard.

"Sasha, her shields need to be brought down by specific energy types!" Maria called out. I came outside in time to find Arc and Void bullets doing nothing but bounce off of the shimmering shield surrounding her.

"Then let's feed her what she wants. Felix! Bring the Hammer down on her!"

Felix lit up at once with brilliant Solar energy, a hammer of flame appearing in his right hand. I'd seen him use the Hammer of Sol before in his Crucible matches. His aim was deadly; few had been able to kill him before he really got going with it. This Wizard was no exception. She was smart enough to see the incoming threat, but stopping him was another task entirely. A task that became infinitely harder when Felix began to actually throw the hammers. Five impacted her bringing the shield down to nothing. However another one immediately sprang up.

"Nate! I need that Arc Blade of yours up! Maria, let her have a taste of the Thunderlord!"

Two affirmatives rang out. Nate sprung from the shadow of the collapsed portal to Crota's realm, sheathed in lightning and blade cracking with electricity. As he slashed repeatedly at her, Maria hosed her down with the might of the Thunderlord, bullets flying so fast that my eyes couldn't tracked where they were, only where they impacted. Nate's Arc dance ended before her shield dropped, but Maria made up the difference as another clip of the Thunderlord slammed home. Then what I hoped was her final shield came up, a brilliant purple that called to my being.

"Cass! Zack! Take her out!"

Zack had been waiting in the wings as Felix rushed in, patience his only viable weapon against the Wizard. Now that she was susceptible to both of us, we moved in tandem. Zack ran off the platform and guided his gliding jump towards her before glowing, lethal orbs of Void energy erupted from his hands. Her screams as they took a chunk out of her shields were almost music to my ears. I followed in his footsteps, stalling in midair as I brought my Void Bow to life for a third time. Three arrows sang out. Her shield dropped.

"Everyone, open fire!"

Sasha's order brought a new volume of guns to life. Machine guns and rocket launchers came to life in a blade of glory. My old Zombie Apocalypse felt shabby next to the likes of Felix and Gjallarhorn, but it did its job well enough. Even the might of all of our heavy weapons didn't completely stall her like our special abilities did, however. The Wizard honed in on Maria and Nate's position, letting fly pulsing globs of Arc energy at the pair of them. The rubble that had originally impeded fluid movement saved their lives as they ducked behind it to ride out the attack. She turned next to Sasha, Jesse and Felix, electing to rain Solar energy down on them, forcing to three to abandon their posts and dodge into the structure to avoid getting fried. Her last targets, even with the five other Spearhead members firing at her, was Zack and I. Void energy was slung towards the two of us up on the platform opposite of Sasha and the other two men. Zack and I dodged in opposite directions. I rolled off the platform, a gasp of pain stifling itself as I smacked my chest against a rock and landed wrong on my left leg. I heard Zack shout in agony. Looking to my left, I could see him in the shadow of the pillar, clutching at the left side of his chest. Time slowed. The Wizard sensed that she could finish the Warlock off, and it would be her last ever action with how wounded she looked. But I wasn't going to give her the opportunity. Even as Jesse's panicked call for his brother sounded, I grabbed a smoke bomb off of my belt and chucked it at Zack's side. The explosion - and the nanites inside - hid him from view. That freed me up to make one good distraction.

The Wizard shrieked in anger at losing sight of her quarry, and I felt her gaze slide to me, my armor dented and my leg clearly not in a good shape to take my full weight. Ghost, I knew, would fix it in heartbeats. All he needed was time to do so. Thankfully, I wasn't alone anymore. A bellow of rage caught my attention, and Jesse raced across the platform on foot, a sword in his hand. It wasn't ornamental in any way, but it was well-cared for. The hilt was sturdy iron, the blade looked to be made of the same. I likened it to a greatsword from Earth's Middle Ages. It was an old weapon style, but still lethal, as Jesse proved as he skewered her chest with one upward stab. The Wizard screamed in agony, which was suddenly cut off with a vicious beheading. Silence fell, save for our heavy breathing and Zack's pained breaths. The second she fell into a pile of bones, Jesse was off the platform and racing for his brother, righteous flames licking at his arms. I didn't dare get in his way. A Guardian on the verge of losing control of their Light was as much a danger to the people around them as they were to themselves.

Sasha was down on the ground in a heartbeat as Jesse began healing his injured brother. I allowed Ghost to see to my leg before I left them to their devices. From the grunts and hisses, Jesse was using his healing full blast on his brother, and the other twin was not enjoying the experience. Sympathy knotted my stomach as I walked among the ruined Sanctum. New craters and bullet holes were in the area thanks to the battle, just more evidence that messing with Spearhead was fairly suicidal. My Ghost deemed it safe enough to hover beside me, every now and then flicking around my body to make sure he'd fixed my armor well enough. Everything was in working order as far as I could tell. The sprained leg wasn't bothering me either. Ghost had always been excellent at mending both armor and body when there was a need for it.

"Something on your mind, Ghost?" I finally found myself questioning.

"Nothing beyond making sure you're ready for the next fight you get yourself into. And, of course, wondering what Guardian Carrington hopes to find down here," he explained. "You and I combed this area the other day and found nothing. What makes her so sure we're going to find something now?"

"Because the Hive don't bother guarding the unimportant."

Sasha's voice cut in behind us, a swagger in her step that told me Zack was going to be just fine, and Nate on her heels.

"Jesse and Zack are resting in Maria's Ward of Dawn," she explained. "She and Felix are keeping watch while they recover. While they do that, I'm thinking we Hunters do what we do best: snoop around. Split up and search the Sanctum. Call if you find anything."

And with that, she took off to the top of the Sanctum, clearly intending to search the building. Nate and I split to opposite towers, though I knew they would yield nothing. I'd already combed through them before. But I still searched every nook and cranny to see if I actually had missed anything. As it turned out, I had missed something, but not from my search area.

"Cass, Nate, rendezvous on me at Crota's summoning crystal. Turns out, it's not just used to send a message: it's also for receiving them."

That grim line had us sprinting to find her. The crystal was dull as it had been last time, but I hadn't thought anything of it. I'd assumed it was just for calling Crota from whatever hole he'd called home. Sasha and her Ghost were standing by it, her smaller companion scanning the crystal. After a brief conversation, she turned to us, a hand on her hip.

"So it looks like that Wizard we just killed was stationed here to prevent any further intrusions into Crota's resting place. The force we dealt with was a token one. It wasn't meant as anything more than a small garrison to discourage outsiders like us. The main bulk of the Matron's forces are concentrated on the Dreadnaught right now. But she was planning to recall even these guys up there. She didn't specify why or when, but I have a feeling she's gathering all of the Hive for something big. The reports we got of Hive abandoning their fight was just step one of their temporary withdrawal."

Ice chilled my veins. Nate had clearly decided to push aside his usual flirty banter at the news.

"'Temporary withdrawal,' Sasha?"

"Yeah, Nate," she said grimly, turning to stare back at the crystal. "Something is going to happen soon, and the answer as to what that something is, is on the Dreadnaught. Let's pack up, Spearhead," she added over the comms. "Home is ready and waiting for us."


	6. Chapter 6: The Dawning

_Chapter Six: The Dawning_

* * *

 _There isn't a soul alive today who remembers when the first Dawning celebration occurred. I suppose it doesn't matter who first brought it about. All that matters is what it stands for: hope. -Anonymous_

* * *

Despite the threat of the Hive, none of the Vanguard demanded service for the Dawning. Though the priority on taking down the Matron was high, nobody wanted to pass up celebrating our most important holiday. I couldn't complain about that, though I'd probably only celebrate the one day before getting back to work. When we'd gotten back to the Tower, Zack and Jesse both had gone to see the Sunsingers to make sure Zack was fully healed. Sasha had split off to give her report to the Vanguard. Maria, Felix, and Nate had immediately made for the Tower bar. They'd invited me along, but I'd declined. I was exhausted. Most I wanted to do was sleep off the Pit and pull out my old Sparrow Racing armor. I wasn't a gifted Crucible player, and I was a decent Guardian in the field, but I always felt at my very best racing around on my Sparrow. It always felt like actual flying. The closest I'd get to it outside of my ship. I'd just settled into sweatpants and a standard Guardian t-shirt when there was a knock at my door. Surprise lit my features. The only one who knew I had this place was Caleb, and he'd stopped visiting when Kara had died.

Sill, let it never be said that the Dawning didn't allow for miracles. Maybe Caleb had decided to forgive me and stopped by to catch up. We could go Sparrow Racing together like old times and go out on patrol just to see who could complete the most tasks for the Tower. But it wasn't Caleb that I saw at the door.

"The twins?" I murmured to my Ghost. "How did they even find me?"

"Your ship isn't exactly inconspicuous to them," he pointed out. "They know exactly what you fly, so they probably followed you here."

Groaning at the loss of my secret - and of any time to sleep - I opened the door, trying to keep the remnants of my disappointment off of my face. That, at least, I was able to succeed in, but I wasn't able to hide my still-present surprise. I could see Zack dragging his brother along to see me. However I couldn't see Zack showing up to my place uninvited. He just didn't seem like the type to do something like that without permission. The both of them were still wearing their robes, minus the helmets. Jesse seemed in a pretty upbeat mood, at least for him. Probably as a result of his brother being ok if I had to guess. Zack had a small, boyish smile on his face that made me feel kind of bad for wishing my house was still a secret.

"Hey guys, anything I can help you with?"

"Just wanted to discuss what happened in the Pit last night," Zack explained, "at least if you have the time. We don't want to disturb you."

I half-expected a snarky comment from Jesse at the last bit, but was surprised that his mouth stayed shut. It made me want to raise an eyebrow, but instead I stepped aside and motioned the two Warlocks in.

"Make yourselves at home. I don't have much in the way of snacks, but you might be able to find something you like."

Zack elected to take a seat on the couch, his robes draping to his side as he watched his brother. Jesse had elected to grab himself a glass of water before settling down next to his twin, not at all as uneasy about my offer to make himself at home. After setting his glass on the table, he draped his arms over the couch carelessly, the movement at odds with how threatening the pair looked, geared up for battle as they were. At least they'd left the weapons behind. I didn't sit down right away, as it seemed like neither Zack nor Jesse were ready to start in about what they wanted to say about the Pit. It didn't seem like I was going to get any sleep until race time, so I busied myself in opening an old trunk next to my bed and pulling out my Sparrow Racing armor. I wasn't growing anymore, but the set seemed like it had seen better days. I'd have to see if Ghost could fix it, and then win myself a new set when the races finally went off.

"You Sparrow Race?"

That was the first question directed at me from Jesse as he took in the sleek Hunter armor I was laying out.

"Yeah. Before the SRL came to pass I'd race around for ages with my fireteam making up our own courses, assuming the land allowed for it. When the League finally came to be, I couldn't resist. I won this armor and a trophy. This year I'll be defending my title. And hopefully earn more armor in the process," I added as a light joke. "Have either of you gotten into Sparrow Racing?"

Zack shook his head, but Jesse shrugged.

"When it rolls around. Though Felix and I normally enjoy watching it more than we enjoy participating in it. I didn't realize you were the same Guardian Drake that was declared the League champion last year."

"The very same," I confirmed, pride brightening my eyes. My Ghost was proud too. The first few races had been a bumpy affair until I'd gotten used to it all: the feel of my Sparrow, the timing, all of it. Every person had their own talents outside of being a Guardian. Kara had been an amazing painter, that much I remembered. I was glad my talents were with a vehicle I could use to escape sticky situations. I brought the trophy out, grabbing the old rag I had to shine it. There wasn't any room on my shelf to display it (the trophy had to have been a foot and a half tall, a ludicrous monument to being top racer in my opinion), but I liked to leave it on my side table when the season rolled around. And since Spearhead had given me a room, perhaps I could use it to display all of my Sparrow Racing knick knacks. I knew for a fact the Tower sold old dummies to put armor on.

"You'll have to tell us when you race next. I bet Nate and Sasha would start a betting pool in your honor," Zack put in with a small smile.

I gave a small snort of amusement before I summoned Ghost, giving him the go-ahead to equip the armor I had laid out. Each piece materialized easily, and it felt like a second skin it hugged so well. Not enough to impede movement, but well enough to give me the best aerodynamics possible.

"Geez," Jesse commented as I turned around, helmet under my arm, "there's barely any heavy plating. What the hell happens if you get shot or crash?"

"I die," I said with a casual shrug. "You should know that, watching after all this time. It's a race, after all. I don't want my heavier gear slowing me down, and if I crash, it's like a punishment for failure. What I like to tell all the newbies, is to avoid death at all costs. It hurts worse than normal. Even worse if enemies break onto the course like they often do. With things how they are, they might put Sunsingers on standby, but I'm not sure. In any case, I'm to be apart of the first race of the Dawning tonight since we got back in time. What did you guys want to talk about regarding the Moon?"

The pair looked at each other before Jesse grudgingly started.

"We wanted to say thanks. If you hadn't stopped me from dropping off that cliff, I wouldn't have had the light to heal Zack."

"And if you hadn't of thrown that smoke bomb on me, it wouldn't of mattered how much Light he used anyway. So thank you, Cass. You saved my life and risked yours to do it. Neither of us are going to forget that," Zack promised.

"Well, your brother and I are at least even now," I said with a small smile. "Technically he's saved my life before with that healing. But it was nothing, Zack. We're teammates now, and I look after mine when I have them. And now that you guys know where my house is, you can stop by at any time," I added wryly. "How did you find me anyway? I didn't see any wings on my tail when I left the Tower."

Jesse snorted, crossing his arms.

"You forgot to look up and around then. We followed you here. At first we were convinced you were leaving for some Hunter business and I figured you'd need a babysitter with the trouble you stir up, but then you landed in front of this place, so here we are."

Letting out an indignant noise at the thought of needing a babysitter, I slipped my helmet on, the HUD a touch different from the standard helmet. This one gave me a count of boosts for my Sparrow as well as their recharge times. It still gave me my health bar and radar, but I had no Light gauge and no ability status bars. We weren't expected to do any fighting on the course. Nevertheless, I always had Ghost keep my weapons and armor handy just in case the worst came to pass and the race was interrupted by a fight.

"Well, thanks for the visit, guys," I said, appreciating the point of their appearance. "I've got to get a move on if I'm going to make it to Venus on time. You're free to tag along if you want," I further offered.

The two brothers shared another look before they nodded.

"Sure, feel free to go on ahead. No doubt Felix is going to want an in person look at the races as well."

I was mildly surprised at Jesse's agreement, but also somewhat grateful. While we didn't much get along, I was loathed to go to Venus alone. I was the best Sparrow Racer I knew only because I had had plenty of practice. And the only reason I'd gotten so much practice was because my fireteam had practically matched me step for step. Even after Kara died, that stayed true. Going to Venus would not only mean I was starting off this racing season: it also meant that I would be seeing Caleb again, the SRL's runner up for last season.

* * *

Unnerving. That was probably the only word I could use to describe the atmosphere when I caught sight of Caleb. I'd almost felt myself freeze up, and had only managed to keep going because Jesse had asked if I was getting cold feet. The race was set to go off within the hour, and here I was losing my nerve. Still, as sad as it was, I took a small amount of comfort with Felix, Jesse, and Zack around me. They at least provided a bit of a familiar presence and made me feel less alone. The small security they brought allowed me to focus in on my race. That focus became honed to a razor sharp edge when I beheld the prize for winning. A new Sparrow, the Gjallarwing. It was a thing of beauty, its body a proud and glowing silver. The Sparrow was fit for a champion, and I felt an ache in my chest grow with how much I wanted it. From the looks of it, the arms of the vehicle had also been forged from the armor of the Titans that had fallen in battle. To ride it would be its own kind of honor.

"So what, exactly, do you do before the race goes off?" Felix questioned curiously, taking in the other racers and spectators. Five of the other top ranked racers were present with their friends and fireteams. For my part, I hadn't gotten to know any of them. This time last year I'd been content to keep away from pretty much everybody, and that hadn't exactly endeared me to the other Guardians. They didn't hate me, per se, but they kept their distance.

"Me, personally? I do a final check of my Sparrow and wait for the race to start," I explained with a small shrug.

"You don't try to get a read on the competition?" Jesse asked, raising an inquiring eyebrow.

I shook my head as a response as I summoned my Sparrow. The Swiftriver materialized into view and I went about my checks, my hands moving deftly over the thrusters and the throttle.

"Well why haven't you tried?"

Jesse's insistence was pushing me to a quick state of annoyance. I didn't know any of them well enough to talk about the broken friendship Caleb and I now had, or the events leading up to it.

"Because the only racer I deem to be a threat to me is the runner up from last year, and I already know him, that's why I haven't tried," I said tartly, mounting the vehicle.

"For all you know he could have changed his strategy. It's not hard to go up and-"

"I'm done talking about this," I snarled, shocking everyone around me, including myself. Hardly believing my nerve, or the vitriol I'd managed to summon, I gunned my Sparrow towards the starting line. Embarrassment and shame began to worm its way through me as I took my place on spot I'd been assigned. Jesse had been making an effort to be helpful in the only way he knew how it seemed like, and I'd thrown it back in his face. I really didn't want to talk about getting strategy from Caleb, but I at least could have said it in a less hateful way. It wasn't Jesse's fault things had ended the way they had between Caleb and I.

"That was... uncharacteristic of you. Especially under the circumstances," my Ghost pointed out

"I know."

Boy did I ever. I'd yelled at a member of _Spearhead_. If I'd gotten asked two weeks ago if I could imagine myself losing my temper with a member of Fireteam Spearhead, I would have laughed out loud.

"So what are you going to do about it?" Ghost further inquired.

"Win this race, and figure the rest out afterwards. I can't get distracted right now."

Easier said than done though. Jesse had been rude from day one, and I wasn't the biggest fan of his attitude, but I'd always liked to think I kept a level head in situations like that. He'd managed to hit a sore spot without realizing it. I'd have time to sort out what I was going to say as an apology after the race. For the moment, my focus had to be on the course. I remembered it well too. There was one jump about halfway through the lap that was a good fifty foot fall. There was enough air hang time to do plenty of flips and tricks to impress the onlookers, plus a favorite shortcut of mine was directly afterwards. The course was, in all, a straight line, though by no means did that make it a cakewalk. In fact I was fully prepared for Caleb to use every opportunity imaginable to make my life hard. As long as I could counteract any tricks he tried to pull, I'd be able to win.

With the half hour until race time, the officials allowed the track to be opened up to test runs. Guardians had swept through earlier and cleared the track of Vex and Fallen alike that had populated the area after it had been left to the wilds for so long. I revved up my engine and boosted along the path, tracing a route that was, more than anything, random. I didn't want any of my competition getting wind of how I planned to ride the course. That was an edge none of them needed. However, at the same time, I was doing my best to take any turns at angles as difficult I could manage to try and exercise my steering and tighten up my turns. Despite the loud sound of engines and boosts all around me, there was a peace in flying on a Sparrow, especially with no enemies around. For all that had happened to it, the planet Venus was still beautiful. The flora was like nothing any other planet had. The old architecture hinted at the greatness Humanity once had, despite the fact that it was all crumbling with decay. However, the Vex structures that jutted into the sky like parasitic thorns were a reminder that Venus no longer belonged to the human race.

There would be time to wonder how an empire so mighty had fallen. For the moment, I shoved everything else out of my mind to focus on my race. The thirty minute trial period was pretty much over. I could probably fit in an extra lap, but I wanted to have a moment to myself before the starting bell went off. Keeping calm was not easy, however, as I heard, rather than saw, Caleb take his place next to mine. Neither of us said anything to each other. Everything we'd wanted to say after Kara's death had already been said. We'd made awful accusations against each other, but the world had seemed to stop when he'd said the one word that had broken everything. _Murderer._ We hadn't spoken since I'd kicked him out of my house that day. If we accidentally ran into each other, we didn't even acknowledge the other. I didn't hate Caleb like he hated me, but I could never find it in me to forgive him for labeling me a murderer.

Still, I could feel his stare boring into my back. My hands tightened on my handlebars as the rest of the racers lined up. I was going to win this race and walk away. I wouldn't have to worry about seeing Caleb for the remaining time of the SRL season. The most I'd have to do was win enough races to keep my title. I could do that in one or two days so long as I ate, breathed, and lived Sparrow Racing.

"Racers, to your positions!"

Most of us were already in position. The one or two who weren't quickly made their way to their spots, and the air became electrified with tension. No one here wanted to lose. The lights on the starting gate flared red, and I hugged my Sparrow tighter, willing my hands steady until the green light appeared. The yellow light sprung to life, and the sound of engines revving increased. When the green light finally appeared, I was off so fast it felt like I was being propelled from a cannon. Everyone else around me emerged from the gate in a similar fashion, and for the first couple of gates around a solid rock hill, we were all pretty much even. As expected, I felt myself getting jostled by not just Caleb, but the other Guardians as well. However after one good shove thanks to a sideways boost and a tightly taken turn, I found myself ahead of the pack with two others on my tail. One of them was no doubt Caleb, who no doubt had managed the turn just as tightly as I had. The other one wasn't known to me, but a quick glance behind me at least gave their colors away; soft blue and yellow. I'd have to keep an eye out for them. If they could keep pace with Caleb for the entire lap, then I'd know for a fact that they were also a threat to my standing.

I soared through a cave at near top speed, allowancing out another side boost to keep my course as straight as I could. As I burst through a waterfall, my eyes rapidly adjusted to the sudden shift of light. The river guided me to another gate that overcharged my already flying Sparrow, and I made it to the next gate in what felt like only a breath. It seemed like time was going by too quickly as the ground fell from beneath my Sparrow. Feeling invigorated by the feel of gravity, I tilted my nose forward into a front flip and howled with euphoria, pleased that I both stuck my landing and hadn't lost much speed. I skipped the gate this time, electing to go up a log ramp to get over the cliff. Turning around it was always a large waste of time. However I was surprised as two Sparrows leapt up to join mine at equal speed. Caleb came up on my left at the same time as the blue and yellow Racer came to my right. I didn't know what unspoken agreement passed between them, but they sandwiched my Sparrow heartily, pinning my legs against my Sparrow and dictating my course. Their interference caused me to not only miss the gate, costing me my lead, but they also tried to shift me to where I'd hit the wall. I braked harshly, feeling armor and undersuit rip apart down my legs from dragging myself across their Sparrows at such a high speed. Blinded by agony for a split second, I banked off the corner and nearly hit the wall. Only stopping entirely to correct my course allowed me to avoid a deadly collision, and even then I had another two racers pass me as I got started again. Now down to fifth place, I felt my teeth grind in frustration. That had been a dirty tactic. It seemed Caleb wasn't the only one who had it out for me. Now I'd have to keep an eye on the rest of my competition too.

 _Cass, that was a bad hit. A decent amount of blood to lose too. Are you ok?_ Ghost inquired this even as he began to stitch up the gouges in my legs. The undersuit and armor would rapidly follow.

 _I'm fine. Let's just catch up._

I couldn't hear the spectators in the stands, but I could only imagine the jeers or the groans of disappointment. Fifth place was going to be tough to come back from, but I could do it. By the time I rounded the corner leading to the final stretch to end the lap, I'd lost sight of Caleb and the mystery racer, but third and fourth place were still in sight. They disappeared through the Vex portal in a flash of light, and I followed a heartbeat later, spinning into a barrel roll to give me a bit of extra boost. I hit the gate on the tail of fourth place and tapped the back of his thruster harsh enough to make him spin out. There was no hearing the curses he no doubt slung at me. Third place cast a rapid look behind her and tried to urge her Sparrow to go faster, the tails of the two front runners just dipping over the edge towards the finish line to start the second lap. Thankfully, she took the turn a bit too wide and fell behind, allowing me to shoot past her. Caleb was distracted dealing with the yellow and blue racer on his flank. For once, I was thankful for being behind. They wouldn't see me coming. I'd just have to make every gate count, especially when I finally popped up on their radars. Plus, which both of them trying so hard to either maintain or take the lead, they were bound to miss a gate or two thanks to interference. All I had to do was drive and make sure the three racers behind me didn't catch up.

Resolved now that I had a plan, I gunned my Sparrow again.

For the first minute it felt like I wasn't making up much ground when compared with my competitors. However I gradually started to catch up thanks to my strict turning discipline and the battle raging between Caleb and the second-place driver. I knew I'd finally popped onto their radars when both glanced behind them. Then it became a battle between all three of us, both of them trying to overtake the other while keeping me behind them. It was a tricky game we were playing, but we were all the best of the best for a reason, and despite my earlier bravado with Jesse and the guys, I was starting to regret underestimating the competition. However an idea wormed it's way into my brain. I blew through a gate most everyone skipped to get an extra boost of speed and came up between the two warring drivers. Anticipating their movements, I braked hard as they swerved to sandwich me again. The two crashed into each other, their speed immediately faltering from the force of it as they bounced off of one another. This left me free to shoot between them, once again taking my rightful place up front. I shot through the Vex portal for the second time, not bothering with any tricks to keep the crowd enthralled. My focus for the last lap was solely on winning.

The third lap passed by relatively uneventfully when compared with the first two. The only time my lead came into question was when I accidentally took a turn too tightly and missed a gate. Caleb came flying up to my side, but I managed to spin him out like I had with the first racer and rocket forward again as we hit another gate. I rode over the final ledge that lead to the finish line, braking and turning to face everyone else racing in behind me so sharply that my Sparrow briefly skidded across the ground as I crossed the finish line ahead of the pack.

I raised a fist triumphantly, allowing myself to savor the roar of the crowd, so at odds with the Guardian I became on the field that cloaked herself in Void and shadows. I tried my best not to look at Caleb as we all dismounted, heading for the 'stands' of rock that Guardians had chosen to use to spectate the race.

"And in a thrilling opening race for the season, Guardian Drake shows us once again how to be the best pilot in the Tower! And your reward for victory, Guardian, is this gorgeous, one of a kind Sparrow: the Gjallarwing!"

The announcer had already shown us the vehicle earlier, but to see it even closer up - and to know that was mine - brought another wave of pride. I'd earned the Sparrow. No one would have been able to tell me otherwise as I ran a hand over the seat and had Ghost store it for later. A snort of disgust shook me briefly from my euphoria, and I looked to see Caleb striding away, the grip he had on his helmet a step away from crushing it. My victory suddenly felt a bit more hollow.

"That was pretty damned awesome to watch. Made last year's championship seem like a cakewalk."

Felix had leapt onto the ground, the loud sound a harsh contrast to the light-as-a-feather landing Jesse and Zack had. The more fiery twin was staring after my former teammate, expression hidden behind his helmet.

"Friend of yours, Drake?"

I shook my head as answer, turning instead to Felix. Caleb was the last thing I wanted to discuss. This time, Jesse took the hint the first time and didn't say another word, which I was grateful for. Too bad I hadn't come up with a way to apologize to him.

"Thanks, Felix. Honestly I was far more nervous last year than I was this year. Technically I haven't won back my title yet though. This was just the first race of the season. I need to rack up more wins if I'm going to be the SRL champion two years running, but with this whole Hive business, I'm not going to be surprised if I have to put Sparrow Racing aside. Not that I mind," I made sure to add hastily. "The City and its people will always come first, no matter what."

"Well, Sasha has given us a couple days of rest anyway, lucky for you. Let's go. In celebration of your victory, you owe the three of us another lap against that new toy of yours."

Sparrows materialized beside the three men, and I cocked my head in curiosity. They really thought they could beat me?

"Too chicken, Drake?" Jesse rumbled, earning a chuckle from his brother as they mounted.

In answer, my new Gjallarwing appeared next to me, the vehicle practically begging to be raced.

"You, Fenway, are going to eat my dust."

* * *

We stayed on the track for far longer than one lap. It went from me leading the pack to giving instruction. By the end, I felt there were three more promising racers in the league. Not a word had been spoken about my earlier outburst, which I was thankful for. I still had to apologize, but I also hadn't found the best words to do so. Nevertheless, as we had our Ghosts put our Sparrows away and lock for transmat back to our ships, I realized that the night hadn't been as bad as I thought it would be. As it was three AM, however, exhaustion was creeping up on me. Ghost was a good pilot and could easily sense my fatigue, so he volunteered to get us back home.

"Where to, Cassidy?" He inquired when we were in the cockpit, his shell spinning next to me.

"The Spearhead bunkhouse," I answered sleepily, cracking a yawn mid sentence. "I'll get a few hours of sleep and then get back on the track all day. I'm not going to keep my title by sitting by doing nothing after all."

"Indeed not," Ghost replied in mild amusement, shooting into hyperspace just as the men around me did. We were at Earth in a few short moments, and in the Tower hangar a few minutes after that. The four of us made our way to Spearhead's set of quarters. Felix broke off as we reached his room, and Zack peeled off for his quarters. I hadn't realized it, but Jesse's room was next door to mine, a discovery I couldn't believe.

"I'm surprised you're opting to stay here instead of your own place. It looked homey down in the City."

I chewed my lip as I thought up a response and opened my door, the sliding of it producing a soft _whoosh_.

"I stay in the Tower for Sparrow Racing. After it's done for the season, I tend to stay at my house most of the time," I explained easily, not about to reveal my fear of Caleb and potential retribution.

But I could see Jesse's eyes. See the cunning flash of disbelief that flared to life.

There was no fooling a Warlock who already had an idea of the truth.

* * *

A loud pounding at my door woke me up sometime after I fell asleep, armor and all still on. I'd been too tired to dig out a sleep shirt and sweats. No doubt I was looking at a stiff body until I got some exercise, but at the time, I really hadn't cared. My bed had just looked so good. And waking up surrounded by the Void was no hardship either. A small smile twitched up my lips as I took in the deep purple, my eyes flicking to Spearhead's emblem that overlooked my bed from the wall. The smile grew a little bigger. I flung my one sheet off and grabbed my helmet and a comb, running it through my hair to make myself at least somewhat presentable. The loud beating on my door still hadn't stopped.

"Come _on_ , Cass! Even Maria doesn't sleep this late! Get your Champion's ass out here!"

Sasha. Never subtle. Ironic, considering her Hunter classification. What pleasantly surprised me was her knowledge of my title win. So I slid my door open with a small smile of greeting that wasn't near as big as the Gunslinger's.

"Up and at 'em, Cass. You owe Maria and I a girl's day out, remember? We're going to take you to all of our favorite places and do a little female patrol later in good ol' LA. There used to be a famous theme park down there. No doubt there isn't anything working anymore, but I think it would be a great place to pick up some extra spinmetal. What do you say?"

I had really planned on being on my Sparrow all day. The racetrack was calling my name - as was my title - but spending time with Sasha and Maria sounded appealing as well, and I hadn't really gotten to hang around the Titan much. Mostly it had been with Sasha or the Fenways, which still shocked me a bit. But getting to know Maria was an opportunity I couldn't really pass by. With how dangerous our jobs could be, any wasted moment was a moment that couldn't be recovered later on. So I nodded, and Ghost materialized my Fear Eater armor, my weapons appearing in their respective places. Sasha was already decked out, and as another door opened from further down the hall, Maria appeared in her own armor, the Helm of Saint-14 tucked beneath her arm. The helmet was given to Titans who proved themselves to be extraordinary examples of their class. I wasn't surprised that Maria had it. It made her Ward of Dawn that much more protective. Creatures of the Darkness that tried to enter it were essentially flashbanged.

"Well I'm all set to go," the Titan said cheerily. "Are we hitting the park or the shops first?"

"Obviously the shops," Sasha responded, her tone making it sound like a silly question. "Cass here needs a new look."

Wait, what?

"What's wrong with the look I have now?" I found myself protesting, looking myself over. The Fear Eater armor was my favorite set. The pattern was choppy and uneven, which I always thought worked better when trying to stay camouflaged. I firmly believed that symmetrical looks were too out of place in the wilds of the galaxy. Plus, my cape looked great with it.

"Well, for one, your armor is obsolete. It's an old model compared to what the Vanguard has now, and I'll bet Cayde would do us a favor and requisition you a new and improved set. On top of that, you have the wrong cloak on. You're a Spearhead Hunter now. We fight as a pack, and we wear the cloaks to symbolize that," Sasha said, making it a point to turn around and display her own. The Strength of the Pack. She and Nate both wore it. I supposed I would too. However I didn't think I could give up the armor. Sasha must have read that indecision like a book.

"I promise that if you don't find something you like you can keep the old stuff. Or you can take a look at my wardrobe. I had Legion pick up some trinkets from the Dreadnaught to make some armor. It's going to be just as badass as what I've got now. This thrall skull? Quite the story, let me tell you-"

"Sasha, please. Let's let her look around before you go offering your spoils of war, ok?" Maria interrupted in exasperation.

A small smile came to my face as the other Hunter huffed an agreement.

"Well, I'm yours for the day," I assured. "And if I don't find anything I like, I promise you can dress me up in whatever you want."

This brought a grin to Sasha's face as she responded with, "good. But first thing's first: a trip to the Speaker. Our cloaks don't just come from anywhere you know."

* * *

 **A/N; thanks for the reviews, guys :) always means a lot to see the reactions and responses. Yeah, though, I have a problem typing faster than my brain can keep up with. I go back and fix what I can, but sometimes I miss stuff. As for the weapon names, I'm such a weapon geek. Since Year 1 I paid more attention to the names and flavor texts than to stats, though as most players have, I too have found my one true love weapon wise (scouts forever!). But I include weapon and armor names because I figured players who care to know would be able to visualize what they're geared with better, and players that don't might find themselves curious enough to look stuff up, but if not, then they'd at least know it was a hand cannon, or an auto rifle, or a whatever.**


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